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underforeversgrace · 1 year ago

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healing the wounds we hid - 8

title: healing the wounds we hid

Finally, the sequel to broken trust and the wounds hidden behind! (Refresh here on AO3 or here on Tumblr)

Story Summary: Now that his father knows, Danny's life is changing for the better. Jack encourages him to let his friends and the rest of the family into his small word. Unbeknownst to Danny, Jack is secretly worried about how Maddie will react to the news upon her return to Amity - and how to confront Vlad once Jack learns his true identity. Amidst it all, an enemy lurks and plots their revenge.

Chapter 8 of 11: Learning About You

AO3

Tumblr Chapter One

(Tumblr Chapter Nine will be here)

~~~~~~

Maddie frowned at her husband, who’d gone ramrod straight beside her as soon as Tucker had spoken. “Jack?” She asked.

“What’s happened?” Jack directed to the kids, completely ignoring her words.

Discomfort stirred within her. Something had felt off with her husband for weeks, he’d been less exuberant on the phone, quicker to encourage her to go to sleep. Even today, he seemed closed off.

“They’ve got him again,” Sam said, her voice breaking. Jazz wrapped an arm around the younger girl’s shoulders even as Jazz began to cry.

“No,” Jack whispered, grabbing the PDA Tucker held out to him. “How?”

“We think it was a trap. I haven’t gotten past all of their firewalls yet but it was definitely planned, based on what I’ve found.”

“Go call Vlad, now, I’m going to pack the GAV,” Jack said, thrusting the device back into Tucker’s hands and turning to leave back out the door.

“Jack!” Maddie yelled, stepping in front of him and placing her hands on his chest to stop him. “What’s going on?”

Jack blinked a few times at her, as though suddenly remembering she was there. The kids eyed her cautiously, though they all split up to do… something?

“It’s a long story, I need you to just let me do something, okay? I’ll explain later.”

“No, you’re going to explain to me what’s going on right now,” she said, poking him repeatedly in the sternum to drive home her point. “I’m not stupid, Jack. You’ve been acting weird. So again, what’s going on?”

Jack opened and closed his mouth several times, trying and failing to find the words, as Jazz reappeared at his side, a USB in her hand. “Here,” she said, handing it to Maddie. “Watch it.”

“Jazz, where did you get that? Danny said he didn’t want anyone seeing that!” Jack said, staring at the USB in horror.

“We don’t have time to explain, Dad!” Jazz snapped. “It’s the easiest way.”

Maddie studied the USB drive in her hand, it was hot pink with a tag attached to it.

IN CASE I DON’T COME HOME

“Jack, what is this?” Maddie asked, growing more and more frustrated the longer her family refused to give her a straight damn answer.

“It’s Danny’s,” Jack finally sighed, deflating like a neon orange balloon. “Go to the lab and watch it. Meet me at the GAV when you’re done. We don’t have time to waste.”

With that, he pushed past her and out the door, the kids making themselves scarce and hurrying to different rooms to get away from her, clearly unwilling to talk to her even as something awful was obviously going on and her son was noticeably absent.

Her heart racing, she ran down the stairs to the lab below, easily inserting the flash drive into the computer and pulling the files up. She ignored the folders - though she couldn’t deny she was intrigued when she glanced over the folder titles - but she focused and clicked onto the solitary video file.

Irritation settled in as she saw a still image of Phantom apparently messing with a camera. Rage followed after. Had Phantom kidnapped her son? She’d kill that ghost the next time she saw him, a death he wouldn’t return from this time! Convinced she was about to watch something akin to a ransom video, she pressed play.

Maddie had to fight to keep from snorting in ridicule at Phantom’s pretend humanity as he ‘struggled’ to figure out how to work the camera and began to talk, introducing himself as if everyone didn’t already know who he was.

“Well, let’s get to good stuff, right?” Phantom asked the camera, even as he averted his gaze to keep from looking directly into the lens. “If you’re watching this, I’m missing. I’m dead or being tortured where you’ll never find me. I hope I’m dead.”

Maddie couldn’t help but to roll her eyes at the ghost’s ridiculous act - pretending he was capable of feeling pain or real emotion, like he had a life to lose.

“Cuz that’s the good stuff, isn’t it? A menace being eliminated? An unfeeling mockery of humanity like me getting what I deserve?” He said, staring into the camera before chiding himself for going off on a tangent. The longer the ghost talked, the more irritated Maddie became. Where was her son and what was her husband hiding?

“Anyway. I’m making this because I recently realized… just how many people want me dead. Deader. Re-dead? Though I think there’s still more who want to dissect me and then kill me. I just… I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve that. Being cut into. Whatever mistakes I’ve made, I’ve paid for them. By the Ancients, I have never stopped paying for them. I’m so tired of paying for them.” Maddie scowled as the ghost pretended to cry. Was he trying to excuse himself for kidnapping her boy? Was that why Jack wasn’t as angry as he should be? Had Phantom actually managed to trick her husband into thinking he was capable of true thought, of sentience? Was this a ploy to get them to stop chasing him?

It wasn’t going to work. No matter what, Phantom was a ghost and that was all he would ever be.

Phantom again chastised himself, laughing icily. “This is a story, so I need to start from the beginning. What use are secrets to someone who no longer exists?” Maddie glared at the figure on the screen - she’d make sure he ceased to exist, if it was the last thing she ever did.

“My parents are scientists, inventors. And in 2004 they built what was supposed to be their lives’ work. But it didn’t work. They were so sad. I… I just wanted to help. I only wanted to help. I wanted them to smile again. So I went down to their lab. I wasn’t supposed to, I was expressly forbidden to do so. But I had a code for emergency use, in case there was something urgent where I needed to be down there. I had a hazmat suit, the whole family did. I knew I was supposed to put it on, so I did.” Anger warmed her from the inside as the ghost indicated his hazmat suit, one so similar to the ones her own family wore. Had he crafted his suit to look like the ones the Fenton wore? Had he been stalking Danny? Trying to appeal to the Fenton’s parental instincts by crafting a story of his death similar to the minor accident Danny had had? Right down to the year! How long had Phantom been haunting her family, her son? Was he why Danny had pulled away?

Was he convincing Danny this was all his parents’ fault? Driving a wedge between them all?

Maddie knew ghosts couldn’t feel pain but in that moment, she wished this particular ghost could. She hoped he’d be able to feel every slice of her scalpel when she caught him, to make him pay for specifically tormenting her family like this. Her hatred and anger just grew as Phantom continued to talk about his ‘accident,’ showing off the electrical scars along his palms. He knew how many degrees Jack and Maddie had, he knew how old Danny had been when Danny had an accident! Was this ghost obsessed with her family?

“I fucked up. It’s one of the biggest mistakes I’ve ever made. I hope I’ve paid for it by now. It took my life. I’ve bled more times than I can count for it. I’ve probably given it my life a second time, if you’re watching this. I’ve lost the friends I loved. My family hates what I’ve become. Hell, they may have been the ones to kill me!” He said, ‘sobbing’ as he explained how his family had made a new invention that ‘hurt’ him nearly as much as dying had - as if he even remembered his death.

“Have you figured out who I am yet?” He asked, again refusing to look at the camera and Maddie’s eyebrows furrowed. He couldn’t seriously be suggesting what she thought?

“I can’t tell them. I don’t know what they’d do. If they don’t take it well. If they think I’m lying or faking or overshadowing. At least if they kill or dissect me like this, I’ll still know they loved some part of me. At least I could have that peace.

“In 2004, my parents built a portal to the Ghost Zone. I accidentally turned it on. It’s my fault the ghosts are here. It’s all my fault. So none of you are actually wrong to blame me. Everything since then that’s happened? My fault.” Phantom continued to sob and Maddie had to fight to not put her fist through the computer screen. Was Phantom trying to pretend to be her son? Why would he do that?

“And then I didn’t even die right. I couldn’t even fucking die right! I’m half human.”

Maddie felt like she’d been hit with a bus as some sort of light swept across Phantom, leaving her son in the frame. Emotions swirled within her as she listened to the rest of the tape.

“I wish I had died. Became entirely ghost. Then I at least would have only needed to protect the city and not get shot. But, no, I wasn’t lucky enough to die. I wouldn’t have failed at being a good protector. I wouldn’t be failing school. I wouldn’t have failed my friends. I wouldn’t be a failure in my family’s eyes. Well, not for the same reason, at least.

“I wonder sometimes. If I killed my human half, could my ghost half survive? Could I become a full ghost? Could I stop seeing my sister’s disappointment? The way my mom sighs and just signs off on whatever I bring home, not even bothering to read what I’ve done this time? Stop seeing my dad’s eyes every time he notices scars I can’t explain, how ashamed of me he is? I could stop being bullied, stop being shoved into lockers. Stop seeing the way Sam and Tucker are just so tired of me? And just… fly. Just watch the stars. Or would I die? Leave this city with only human protectors who can’t take as hard a beating as I can? It isn’t fair to them, to die for a mistake I made. Maybe eventually the ghosts will stop. And then I can rest.”

The video came to an end shortly after, Phantom getting onto himself for getting too emotional as he came closer to the camera, turning it off and biting at his tongue as though in concentration.

Fury consumed Maddie as she pushed harshly away from the desk, sending the chair flying behind her as she watched this facsimile of her son. It was a very good likeness of her son, Maddie hated to admit. She couldn’t see any differences between the shape shifting ghost on the screen and her own child, he even had the small scar under Danny’s left eye from when he was learning how to ride his bike.

How long had Phantom been hunting her family? Had he kidnapped Danny? Had he been overshadowing Danny? How long had this damn ghost been in her life and she didn’t notice it?

What kind of awful mother was she? To not realize her son was gone? Dread filled her stomach at the thought. Was Danny dead? Had this ghost killed him?

Is this what Sam meant when she said they got him again? Had Danny been captured before by ghosts? No, that didn’t sound right, Jack would’ve told her if Danny had been kidnapped while she was at the Ectology and its Revelations Conference.

Whatever it was, it was time to gear up and go save her son. She hurried over to the corner where they kept their weapons and was instantly confused - at least half of them were missing. Had Jack already loaded up the rest of the weapons? Was this something they’d been preparing for? She briefly sorted through the pile, searching for the Fenton Fryer, noticing as she looked that almost all of their highest powered weapons - especially the electrical ones - were missing.

Still, she dug around until she found one of the prototypes for the Fryer. She’d discarded it because it had a tendency to shock her, too, but it was minor enough and their previous experiment with the Fryer made her think Phantom was as adverse to electricity as Jack believed he was.

Maddie lifted the slim weapon with a satisfied grin. If Jack already had the Fryer and she had this, Phantom’s core would certainly destabilize upon being hit by both. As much as it pained her to think about destabilizing him and all the research she would lose, she couldn’t risk him hurting her son after all the interest he was apparently showing in Danny.

Pleased with her weapon, Maddie ran up the stairs and back into the kitchen. She heard voices in the living room before she saw them.

“Jack, what exactly do you plan to do?” Vlad asked, to Maddie’s surprise. What was he doing here? “The Ghost Investigation Ward is a branch of the U.S. government! We can’t just walk in!”

“I plan on saving him and burning that damn place to the ground!” Jack yelled back.

“Besides, Mr. Masters,” Tucker’s voice added, “it looks like they’re in a temporary, makeshift facility. The original got damaged somehow about two months ago. Their security measures are a fraction of what they should be due to lack of funding.”

“How do you possibly know all of that, Mr. Foley?” Vlad asked as Maddie rounded the corner. She stayed quiet, watching them.

Tucker shrugged. “For a government agency, their cyber security is ridiculously awful. It took me less than a day to get into their servers after the first round of malware emails I sent.”

“‘Less than a day?’” Jazz asked. “He’s only been missing for three hours.”

Tucker began to stutter, Sam coming to his rescue. “When we found out they’d had him before, Tucker and I… may have gone on the defensive after Mr. Fenton accidentally revealed the Guys in White had hurt him already.”

“Excuse me, caught him before?” Vlad asked.

“He’s the reason the original facility blew up,” Jack said with a sigh. “They got him about two months back. He told me about it, but not in detail. The short version is - they tried to vivisect him but when they hit his core, it triggered some kind of electrical explosion. He doesn’t know why and, understandably, he doesn’t like to talk about it.”

Maddie finally spoke up at that. This conversation was making no sense to her. “I watched the video.”

Everyone there turned to look at her, various looks of concern across the board, except for Vlad, who kept his expression neutral.

“And?” Jack asked, a look like wary hope on his face. “Are you going to help us save our son?”

“Of course I am!” Maddie said indignantly. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“He isn’t human anymore, Maddie. You get that, right?” Jack questioned, the others remaining silent.

Maddie hesitated, watching the faces of people she knew so well as panic settled within her. Jack, Jazz, Sam, Tucker, even Vlad… all of them seemed to believe Phantom’s lie. How had he wedged himself into her family, into Danny’s friends, so quickly?

“I will always protect my son, Jack. You know that!” She finally said.

“Even if our son is Phantom?” Jack shot back. When Maddie hesitated, he continued. “Maddie, that is my son. I’m going to save him. You can help or not. If you don’t, you better be gone before I get home. I love you but that is my child.”

“Of course I’m going to help. What’s the plan?” Maddie answered.

Jack broke into a grin and Tucker cleared his throat. “Okay, here’s the plan…”

That wasn’t her son and she didn’t know how he’d tricked everyone Danny knew, but he was still the only one who knew where Danny actually was, if he was even alive. So she’d find him.

She’d get the information about her son.

And then she’d make Phantom pay.

~~~~~~

Danny awoke, groggy and sore. What had happened? He vaguely remembered fighting a large animal ghost but his memory was splotchy. He pressed his eyes shut as a headache formed, trying to groan, though he instantly became alert as soon as he did so.

There was a gag in his mouth.

Danny’s eyes flew open and he found himself wishing with everything he had that this was a nightmare as he saw a white ceiling above him, bright lights shining directly into his eyes.

“The specimen has awoken. Should we sedate it again?” A female voice to his left said. He immediately threw his head to the side, eyes going wide as he saw people in white coats and surgical masks surrounding him.

“No,” a familiar male said to his other side and Danny’s ectoplasm ran cold in his bloodless veins. “We need it awake so we can ensure the nullification works properly.”

While they talked, Danny tried to subtly move his body, only to find his ankles and wrists shackled to the flat, cold table beneath him. This was also when he realized the top of his jumpsuit had been cut away, showing the scar he’d gotten the last time these people had him. He tried harder, struggling against his bonds, when a heavy hand dropped hard on his shoulder.

“Stop struggling, Phantom,” Operative O said, grinning as Danny turned to face him. “It’ll be easier for us if you don’t.”

Danny screamed into the gag, pulling with all his strength, desperately trying to force intangibility, but O just grinned at him as he fought uselessly. O glanced at the scientists, then leaned closer to Danny.

“You’re going to pay for killing K, Phantom. I know you can feel. And I’m going to make sure you’re awake to feel everything.” He whispered.

Danny stopped struggling momentarily, shocked. Killed? Had he killed someone?

O just smirked. “You killed a dozen people when you escaped, Phantom. Nearly killed me, too,” he added, holding up what looked like a metal prosthetic where his hand should be. The smile fell from his face as he continued. “You should’ve made sure I died.”

Danny was still reeling from this new information when O pulled away from him. “Specimen is fully conscious. Is the nullwave device ready?” He asked a nearby scientist.

“We’re ready. Just stand clear of Phantom, we don’t want to risk shocking you.” The scientist answered.

I killed people, was playing on repeat in Danny’s head, but the word shocking finally pulled him out of his downward spiral. But there was nothing he could do as sticky pads were pressed to his bare skin and taped down, little wires attached to a large electrical box nearby. Danny wasn’t dumb, he knew what they were about to do to him, so he fought his own body, trying to find the electricity that had saved him the last time he was here, trying to pull on his ghost core to let him phase out of this.

“Alright, that’s the last one,” the scientist said as he pressed another square to Danny’s left bicep, leaving Danny covered in at least a dozen of these things all over his upper body. Tears he tried to fight fell from his eyes and Operative O smiled like a kid on Christmas morning when he saw them.

“And let me just verify how this works,” O said in a way that told Danny he was just taking pleasure in making sure Danny knew exactly how he was going to be tortured. “These will emit a strong electrical pulse that will negate, or nullify, the electricity Phantom displayed the last time it was here?”

The scientist nodded. “Essentially. It’s still experimental, since ghost physics and science is so different from our own, but the plan is that human electricity plus ecto electricity will cause each other to cancel out. We may have to play around with voltages, though, before we reach that equilibrium.”

“So, big zap, and then bigger zaps until we’re confident Phantom’s abilities have been canceled?”

“To put it simply, yes.”

“Wonderful,” O said. “Let’s begin.”

“Stand clear!” The scientist shouted and Danny fought with every fiber of his being until fire began to burn him from the inside.

He screamed through the gag, his vision nearly blacking out as electricity surged in him, even as he saw his Lichtenberg scars burning white as pain coursed through his body, cheeks growing wet with tears as his back arched away from the table.

He wasn’t sure how long the device was powered on when the pain abruptly stopped and he collapsed bonelessly back down. Aftershocks wracked his frame, making him convulse slightly. He knew he was sobbing but there was nothing else to do as O came back into his line of sight. “Doesn’t look like it worked,” O said, though his voice was full of glee instead of disappointment. He was enjoying this and he made sure Danny knew the delight the man had while he did this to him.

I don’t deserve this. Danny thought, though the sentiment surprised him.

Last time he’d been here, they’d told him he deserved it for everything he’d done and the monster he’d become and he’d believed them. Not this time, though. People knew who he was and loved him despite it.

Someone was coming to save him.

But then the electricity was back and his muscles were spasming so hard he felt as his bones snapped. He no longer felt the table he laid on, instead his left hand was burning, disintegrating into ash.

His body was being ripped apart and put back together, his DNA was unraveling, green was consuming his vision, oh god was his heart even still beating -?

When the electricity stopped this time, he struggled to draw in air even though he didn’t need it.

It had been a long time since electricity had hurt him bad enough to make him think he was back in the portal and as he watched Operative O grin before telling the scientist to go again, he knew his torment had only just begun.

Dad, please. Help me! Was his last thought before the torture continued and he was dying again.

#grace writes #danny phantom

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collarful-clover · 4 years ago

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I was gonna originally draw Gavin in his Gudetama sweater but I forgot how to spell it so I improvised

#tagged post #my art #is it wrong for lowkey wanting that sweater even tho it’s not real #also hi I didn’t wanna line it so I just used to sketch layer + some clean up can u tell #if anyone knows where Gavin got the rainbow sole shoes he has pls lmk bc I really want them thanks #ah fanart #gavin free #acheivement hunter #yelling tag for gav

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altschmerzes · 3 years ago

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HOOOO BOY the “a bunch of people from maddie’s 911 calls come to the cafeteria to give her a rousing speech about how amazing she is” scene i hate this so much please. i can’t watch thiiiiis it’s literally so inappropriate and invasive. nobody in this scene is being treated like a human person except for her and it’s SUCH an insanely bad look. josh and sue are too good at their jobs to have NOT known how wildly not okay this is and it’s got all this swelling heartwarming music over the top of it, i cant ahsisbsksn

#gav gab #imagine you get a phone call and someone’s like hey remember that time you were unconscious and in labour during an earthquake #how that was probably one of the most traumatic events of your life and your husband’s #do you want to come be part of an intervention where we all comfort the 911 operator to convince her to stay in her job #GANG THIS IS NOT IT #gav watches 911 #if this ends up in any tags and people get mad at me for being critical of this nightmare of a scene don’t yell at me about it #I didn’t tag it with Shit All and i don’t know how tumblr decides what will show up where

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wolfboywarmachine · 5 years ago

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it is entirely possible ryth has Children somewhere out there in the galaxy that he doesn’t know about, which probably pisses his family off to No End

#gav talks #ryth tag #swtor blogging #his dad probably yells abt him like SOWING HIS WILD OATS and other unfortunate phrases like that #he's like ????#he is not Careful

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cornfields-and-bad-dreams · 3 years ago

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Fictober21 Day 7: “That could have gone better.”

Fandom: Achievement Hunter

Rating: General

Warnings/Tags: Immortal au, non-permanent character death, FAHC au.

Word count: 459

Summary: Michael and Gavin accidentally kill a man.

Michael and Jeremy didn't mean to hit the man with the car, the guy came out of nowhere, but they did. So now they were out in the desert with a body wrapped in a garbage bag and knee-deep into a make-shift someone's grave. Michael had just scooped out another shovel full of dirt, wiping the sweat from his brow, he looked at Gav.

"Think it's deep enough?"

"I suppose, don't really have the energy to dig anymore anyways."

Michael agreed with a tired sound. stepping out of the hole the two each grabbed an end of the body and tossed it in. Gavin gave a huff as he looked down at the grave.

"You think we should say something?"

"What? Like a eulogy? We didn't know the guy."

"Yeah, but, it ain't right to bury someone without saying something."

Michael rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Fine, what do you suggest we say?"

"Well, despite not knowing you, I bet you made someone happy in your life. You were someones son, possibly someone's brother or father. I'm sure you'll be missed by friends and family. And I'm sorry you're life had to come to an end by the hands of Michael boy."

"My hands? You're the one who distracted me, if you hadn't have been prattling on about whatever you were I wouldn't have hit the guy."

"Oh, I'm so sorry you can't concentrate on the road when others are talking."

The two threw their shovels down and started in on a heated debate. As the two yelled at each other, bathed in the glow of the moonlight as well as the headlights of Michael's now dented car, the body below them started to stir. Not that they were paying attention.

"Well whoever's fault it is, we can at least say we're sorry for the way things turned out," Gavin stated.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right."

"That could have gone better."

The two jumped back, letting out a scream, at the sudden voice coming from the grave.

"You're not Dead?!" Michael shrieked.

"News flash assholes, I'm immortal."

Michael and Gavin looked at each other then started to laugh.

"We probably should have waited to see about that before digging the hole." Gavin giggled.

"And wrapping your body up," Michael added.

Helping the man out of the trash bag and the hole Michael and Gavin introduced themselves, stating that they too in fact were immortal, and learning the man's name.

"So, Jeremy was it? No hard feelings right? I mean, it was an accident."

Jeremy laughed and slapped Gavin on the back.

"Well, you ruined my night, but I do have to say it wasn't the worst death I've had. Though that eulogy you gave was terrible."

#fictober21 #achievement hunter #fahc #immortal au #fahc immortal au #my writing

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theladyofdeath · 5 years ago

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The Cadre {20}

A Throne of Glass, 1920s Period AU.

Summary: Orynth became Aelin Galathynius’s kingdom the moment the Prohibition began. She sang every night, the voice of the city’s underground world, her cousin selling the liquor that was banned by the authorities. She was living the dream, young and free, until the Cadre, until Rowan Whitethorn, came into her life.

Since Rowan Whitethorn returned from war, everything had changed. His aunt wants to take his crown, old enemies have returned as business partners, and he can’t sleep without feeling as if he’ll be suffocated by the memories of war. Little did he know that when he came back home he would be leaving one battlefield and entering another.

All characters belong to SJM. I am no more than a fan with a plot.

**Warning: mature content - language, alcohol use, drug use, sex, murders and shit.

A/N: The end...

I’ll be starting In the Bleak Midwinter {The Cadre, Part 2} If I’ve tagged you in this, I’ll tag you in that, too! x

Links:

The Cadre Masterlist

Full Fanfic Masterlist

My Askbox

“In the bleak mid-winter

Frosty wind made moan,

Earth stood hard as iron,

Water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow,

Snow on snow,

In the bleak mid-winter

Long ago.”

They sang the words around the fire, and Rowan couldn’t help but laugh. The longer the night went on, every time Lorcan started the carol again, his words slurred more and more. The man was tone-deaf enough as it was, and the alcohol certainly didn’t help.

But it sure as hell kept them warm.

Winter had come, and as they sat in the war camp, there were only so many ways to stay warm and occupied as they waited for the next attack. Alcohol, fire, and laughter. The three ways to stay warm and keep sane during the war.

He looked around the fire, at his men, covered in dust and dirt and scrapes and bruises, but they were all in one piece. Gavriel, Lorcan, Vaughan, Fenrys, and Connall. Sitting around the fire as the snow began to fall from the dark heavens, drinking and singing and laughing.

Together.

~~~~~

They walked down by the docks, Rowan at the head, Rhoe Galathynius to his left, Gavriel to his right.

Always his right hand man.

It was vacant, no one in sight.

The cops that worked for Rowan had been paid to keep away, and to make sure their fellow officers did, too. They’d all met at the office that morning to run over their plan, one last time. Rhoe had kept true to his word, bringing Aedion, Chaol, Dorian, and Ren with him.

When they made it to the warehouse that Arobynn occupied, he and his men were already standing outside, waiting.

Rowan was exhausted and sore, but he tried not to let it show. He didn’t wear his sling, and the extra pressure and movement of his shoulder sent pain shooting down his arm. He had laid awake, all night, Aelin in his arms as he thought about the war, begrudgingly, dwelling in the memories he tried so hard to leave overseas.

It was a war they shouldn’t have come back from, but did. They made it back home to Orynth, where their shot at a second life awaited.

Arobynn’s grin spread as they approached, and stopped, a good distance away. For a moment, nothing could be heard except for the water lapping up against the wooden docks. As Rowan had expected, Arobynn had brought all of his men, his Assassins, and there were twenty of them, as opposed to their eleven.

Or, twelve, Rowan supposed.

“Couldn’t find your aunt?” Arobynn asked at last. “Shame. I had high hopes for you and our...deal.”

Rowan nodded, slowly, as he admired the landscape around them. When he looked back to Arobynn, he cocked his head. “I looked everywhere, asked around, sent word to everyone I knew that had relations with Maeve. The only place I didn’t look, however, was in your bed. But, I assumed that would be intrusive.”

Arobynn’s smile faltered, only for a second. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

Rowan couldn’t help the little amused grin that tugged on his mouth.

“One of my men was in the city this week, at the hospital with his girl...she’s pregnant, you see, you really should congratulate him,” Rowan said, and Arobynn’s eyes narrowed. “While they were there, he saw a familiar figure hurrying out the door, hat pulled down over her face, scurrying to a car being driven by one of your men.”

He nodded to one of the men in the back of Arobynn’s pack, but Arobynn’s narrowed eyes didn’t leave Rowan’s.

“It seems we owe you a congratulations, too,” Rowan continued. “I’ve concluded that you have been hiding Maeve away because she’s pregnant with your child, and you sent me on a mission that you knew I would fail at because you want me dead, so you can have my city. Meanwhile, you wanted Aelin Galathynius to lure Sam Cortland back from Eyllwe, but, lucky you, he came back before you could get her, only to proclaim how excited he was to take your place once your sorry ass got killed. But you had him killed, first, because he was no longer your chosen heir. Have I missed anything?”

“You always were smart,” Arobynn said, smiling wickedly, although it didn’t meet his eyes.

“Yes,” Rowan replied, simply. “I am. Now, being the smart young man that I am, I suggest we make a deal so we can all go home.”

Arobynn laughed, the malicious sound echoing off the warehouses around them. “Oh, no. It’s too late for all that. I have plans, you see. You’re still a child. A child cannot run a city.”

Rowan sighed, nodding slowly. Rhoe chuckled from behind him as Gavriel raised his chin. Rowan went on, “Very well. Then, if we must use guns, let’s use proper guns.”

Rowan looked up to the top of Arobynn’s warehouse, where Aelin Galathynius stood, holding a machine gun, pointed down at Arobynn and his men. She stood gallantly, without fear, like a goddess of war. Her blue eyes were lit with hatred and confidence, staring right at Arobynn.

Arobynn was fuming.

“I heard a rumor a while back that you had a set of machine guns,” Rowan crooned, loving the look on Arobynn’s face. “That was confirmed once I realized you killed Cortland. As we’ve previously discussed, it takes a certain type of gun to make such a precise shot from a distance. After that, finding them wasn’t so difficult, especially when Lorcan here got a hold of that one in the back.”

Arobynn stilled.

“That’s right,” Rowan said, shrugging. “You’ve got a traitor. And with a wave of my hand, Aelin opens fire on your men. She’s got a good shot with a pistol, imagine what damage she could do with that fucking thing. And she’ll enjoy every second of it, considering you killed her lover.”

Arobynn’s jaw hardened, but then he was moving, grabbing his gun and lifting it to aim at Rowan’s head.

On both sides, weapons were drawn.

All but Rowan, who watched Arobynn, open hands at his sides.

“There’s a reason this city belongs to The Cadre,” Rowan said. “And that will be the way it remains.”

Arobynn’s eyes were ablaze as he yelled, “Who is the traitor?”

When silence greeted him, he asked, once more, screaming it. “Who is the traitor?”

But that young man in the back, perhaps a year older than Rowan, was pointing his gun at the back of Arobynn’s head with a shaky hand.

He fired.

And missed.

It missed Arobynn and crossed the dusty landscape.

Gunshots rang out from both sides as Arobynn turned around and shot the traitor down. The second he turned back to Rowan, though, was his end.

Rowan’s gun was out.

He pulled the trigger.

His bullet hit Arobynn in the middle of his forehead.

The shooting stopped as Arobynn’s Assassins watched him fall to the ground.

Weapons were slowly lowered.

“Rowan.”

His name came from behind him, softly.

A deep voice.

Lorcan’s.

He didn’t typically speak to Rowan so gently, so desperately, so full of fear and horror. Lorcan didn’t show emotion, not in front of others, surely not in front of the enemy. His name alone on Lorcan’s lips sent chills down Rowan’s spine.

Rowan turned, and as he did so, Rhoe said, “Go home. Battles done. Bury your leader.”

And he went on, but Rowan didn’t hear a word more, because Connall and Fenrys were hovering over a limp body, the latter with his palm pressed against the crumpled form’s chest, trying to stop the blood streaming from his wound.

Gavriel.

Connall looked over his shoulder and met Rowan’s gaze. “He’s still breathing.”

“Fuck,” Rowan breathed. “Carry him, come on. Lor, run ahead, get the car.”

Lorcan was off, and everything that happened next happened in a blur. The Assassins were gone, dragging Arobynn’s lifeless body away. Rowan and his men, and Rhoe’s men, were trailing after Fenrys and Connall as they carried Gavriel between the two of them.

Aedion’s face was pale.

Rowan helped lay Gavriel in the backseat, and he hit the seats with a groan, a shaky hand clutching his chest.

“Ride with him, take off your jacket, press it against the wound,” Rowan ordered. Fenrys nodded and did as he was told.

Connall and Vaughan loaded themselves inside then they were off, Lorcan driving as quickly as he could.

Rowan was left, watching them drive away through the clouds of dust.

By the time Rowan reached the hospital, they’d removed the bullet, and he was sleeping, still unconscious. He’d lost a lot of blood. The doctor said he probably wouldn’t make it, but Rowan knew Gavriel.

He didn’t give up that easily.

He ordered the others to leave and closed himself inside of the hospital room with Gavriel. He laid, peacefully, bloodied shirts removed. He was bandaged up, his breathing slow, shallow.

Rowan sat in a rickety chair and pulled it up next to the cot.

“You made it through the war,” Rowan began, voice low, but it seemed loud in the quiet, eerie space. “You cannot die in a bloody gang fight.”

Gavriel remained still.

“You carried me off a fucking battlefield while you were being shot at,” Rowan continued, shaking his head. “You fought through battle after battle after battle on the front fucking lines, so you better not die right here, right now. I won’t say the words, Gav, I won’t say the words, don’t make me say the fucking words!”

With his luck, Gavriel would have to say the words to Rowan long before anyone said them to him. Gavriel was safe, cautious, wise. Rowan knew he wasn’t invincible, but he had always thought Gavriel was. He always thought Gavriel would outlast them all.

“We made it back from a war we shouldn’t have,” Rowan breathed, watching the slow rise and fall of Gavriel’s chest, covered in crimson stained bandages. “We were given a second chance at life, Gav, and it’s not over, not yet.” He shook his head as a heavy feeling sank into the pit of his stomach. He sat there for an hour, watching, waiting, but nothing happened, and perhaps nothing would.

Rowan didn’t want to say the words. Didn’t want to confirm what the doctors thought, that Gavriel wouldn’t make it through the night. But this was a part of the life they had chosen.

Whether they made it through one of the deadliest wars in history, or not.

So, Rowan stood, placed a hand on Gavriel’s shoulder, and said the words. “In the bleak midwinter.”

And then he left.

~~~~~

Lorcan walked into the pub, after unlocking it with his key, where Elide and Lysandra were waiting.

Elide’s eyes widened at the blood on his shirt.

But Lorcan’s head shook, subtly. “Not mine.”

“Whose?” she breathed.

“Gavriel,” he said.

Lysandra’s face paled.

“He’s alive, at the hospital,” Lorcan said, but Lysandra was already hurrying out the door. He slumped down in a chair and took off his hat, tossing it into the middle of the table.

“Drink?” Elide asked, quietly.

Lorcan nodded.

She walked away, and Lorcan listened to her move around. Her heels against the hardwood, the clinking of glasses and bottles. She came back with a glass of whiskey, and Lorcan quickly took it into his hand and pressed the cool rim to his lips.

“Aelin?” Elide asked.

“She’s with Rhoe,” Lorcan said, and a breath left Elide’s body.

Elide nibbled on her bottom lip, as if she wanted to ask more questions, but didn’t. Lorcan reached across the table and took her hand. He gave her a soft, wistful smile.

“It was a victory, that’s all that matters,” he said. “Arobynn’s dead, and I came back, so now you can marry me.”

Elide chuckled, eyes soft as she nodded. “Yes. I can. And I will.”

Lorcan brushed his thumb over the back of her hand before he brought it to his lips, her skin warm beneath his touch.

“Gavriel will be okay,” Lorcan muttered, after a moment, more to himself than to Elide.

But Elide nodded, anyway, although she kept quiet.

They sat like that for a while, in comfortable silence, holding hands as Lorcan sipped on a glass of whiskey.

They sat like that until nightfall came, hours having passed in the blink of an eye, the pub remaining closed, which was why it was so alarming when someone came pounding on the door.

Elide was up, quickly, hurrying to unlock it.

Fenrys swept in, still in his bloodstained shirt, his eyes wide, frantic.

Lorcan tensed.

But Fenrys didn’t have to say a word before Lorcan was on his feet.

Gavriel.

~~~~~

Lysandra had gone to the hospital to give comfort. Rowan had ordered everyone to leave, and Lorcan went to the pub to find Elide while the others made themselves distracted within and around the hospital. But Aedion remained, sitting in a chair just outside of the room, Lysandra sitting to his right.

He hadn’t said a word since they arrived, his face pale. Lysandra didn’t push him.

“I feel strange,” he said, at last, voice low.

Lysandra waited for him to continue, staring at his hands, fidgeting against one another.

“I should be upset, because he’s my dad,” he went on, shaking his head, slowly, “but I didn’t know him. At all. Then again, that makes it worse, because if he dies, I’ll never get the chance to. You know?”

Lysandra nodded, subtly. “He’s not gone yet, Aedion.”

“Yet,” he repeated, the word clipped.

Lysandra straightened. “That’s not what I meant.”

Aedion sighed, sinking into his chair. “I know. I just….we were supposed to meet at the pub later, you know? This….wasn’t part of the plan.”

“I know,” she breathed, and was about to say something more when the door to Gavriel’s room swung open and Rowan stepped out. Without a word, he sat on the opposite side of Lysandra.

For a moment, no one moved.

No one said a word.

Then, Aedion pushed himself up and went inside of the hospital room, closing the door behind him.

“How bad is it?” Lysandra asked, once Aedion had gone.

Rowan shrugged. “Don’t know. Doesn’t look good. Doctors think he’s gone.”

“And what do you think?” Lysandra asked.

Rowan took a long moment to think about it, exhaustion weighing over him. “In the war, we used to sing this carol. Talks about the coming of the gods.” Lysandra listened intently, knowing full well Rowan didn’t have much respect for the gods. “Rebirth,” he went on, chuckling humorlessly. “Which is ridiculous, you know? You come, you're born, you die, that’s the way it is, there’s no coming back from death. And yet, we did. We should’ve died in that war, Lysandra. We should have never come back home. But we did. And on our way back, we thought about that fucking carol. And promised that when we died, when we were taken from this second chance at life that we should have never gotten, we would say the words over each other as a sign of respect, of recognition that our lives went further then they were supposed to.”

Rowan stopped talking, and Lysandra blinked.

Rowan shook his head, slowly, eyes narrowed. “When I was in there, I said the words.”

She wanted so badly to help, to say something comforting, to make it all go away, the heartbreak, but Lysandra came up with nothing. Besides, Rowan wasn’t one to accept being comforted.

So they sat, in the silence, and waited.

~~~~~

Aedion walked into the hospital room and froze the moment the door closed behind him. There was a chair right next to the cot, but that seemed to close.

Gavriel looked younger, although gruesomely so, with his chest, bloodied and bandaged, slowly rising and falling, and his eyes closed.

Aedion quickly looked away, to meander around the room. Gavriel’s belongings sat on a table in the corner in a big heap. His clothes, his boots, his gun. Aedion went to it, and picked up the pistol, weighing it in his hand. It was a beautiful gun, expensive, classic. He assumed it had been around a while. Perhaps Gavriel had owned it since Darragh’s leadership, when Aedion had been born.

After examining it for another moment, he went to put it back down atop Gavriel’s clothes, and froze. His jacket laid in disarray, open, stained with crimson. And there, peeking out of the inside pocket, the corner coated in blood, was the photograph Aedion had given him.

Gavriel and Aedion’s mother, Saoirse.

With trembling fingers, Aedion set down the gun and picked up the photo. He had kept it, not only somewhere safe, but on him as he went into battle.

The blood was dried, staining the old black and white.

They looked so young, so carefree, even though Aedion assumed their lives were nowhere near carefree. Gavriel was already pledged to Darragh, already involved in this dangerous, horrific lifestyle. And his mother, an Ashryver, the daughter of a gangster, pregnant, young, trying to keep her true love safe from being killed at the hands of her father.

And yet, none of that seemed to matter when they were together. Their eyes were bright, humored, their smiles radiant.

This photograph was so precious that his mother had kept it locked away with her most private possessions.

It was so precious that Gavriel had kept it, tucked away in his pocket, as he went to face off against Arobynn Hammel.

Aedion stared, in awe, completely unaware that his eyes were blurring until he heard a rustling from behind him.

He spun around, the photograph still grasped in his fingers.

Gavriel laid where he had been, body limp, but his eyes were open, just a little bit, and he was watching his son.

Aedion stilled.

And then Gavriel chuckled, softly, and his head fell to the side against his pillow. His voice was quiet, raspy, slow, when he said, “You look so much like her.”

Aedion laughed, because he wasn’t sure what else to do. He wiped away at the tear that had fallen down his cheek as he shook his head. “That’s what I hear.”

Gavriel’s smile widened, although his eyes fell shut once more.

Aedion was at his side, then, pouring a glass of water that he held up to Gavriel’s lips. Gavriel went to take the glass from Aedion’s hand, but the pain was too much, so he drank, slowly, before Aedion took the cup away and put it back down before sitting in the chair next to the cot.

Gavriel’s eyes were closed when he said, “Sorry I got shot. Ruins our plan for the pub, huh.”

A smile tugged on the corner of Aedion’s lips. “It’s a decent excuse.”

Gavriel huffed, and the room went quiet, only for a moment, before Gavriel said, “I’m glad you’re here.”

Aedion nodded, although Gavriel’s eyes were still shut. “I’m glad I don’t have to say goodbye after…” The words fell away from him. Aedion couldn’t convince himself to say the rest of the sentence out loud.

After just now finding you.

But Gavriel seemed to understand, because he said, “When I die, it won’t be because of the bullet from some fucking amateur traitor.”

Aedion snorted, although the words sent chills down his spine. He remembered the young man’s face. Perhaps he always would. The Assassin who betrayed Arobynn had meant to shoot his leader, but he had missed.

Hitting Gavriel instead.

Aedion was watching Gavriel when it happened, after the shot rang out. His shoulders had tensed, his hand had gone up to his chest. He had stayed on his feet for another moment before the pain took him down to his knees in the dirt.

Aedino cleared his throat as he rose from his chair. “I should let Rowan know that you’re awake, so he can tell the others.”

Gavriel nodded, barely, as much as he could. Just as Aedion neared the door, Gavriel asked, “You’ll come back, yeah?”

Aedion stilled, and looked over his shoulder to meet Gavriel’s weary gaze. He nodded. “Yeah.”

Gavriel smiled, softly. “Good.”

~~~~~

Aelin wandered around Rowan’s bedroom. He was awfully boring, it seemed, in the belongings he kept. She had hoped to gain something to pick on him for in his absence, as she awaited his return, but found nothing. Just when she was about to go see if Connall and Vaughan, who were sitting in the kitchen last time she’d been down, wanted to get a drink as they waited, heavy footsteps approached and Rowan appeared in the doorway.

He stopped, seeing Aelin, and raised his brows. “I’ve been looking for you.”

“Have you?” she crooned. “I heard the good news and came right over. Thought I’d wait for you here.”

Rowan chuckled and walked into the room, slowly, toward her. “It’s a good day when the enemy is defeated and none of your men die. Even if it’s just barely. Which, by the way, you were a badass.”

Aelin rolled her eyes, but she wouldn’t deny the victory. She felt like a badass. “I put the gun in your office and locked it up.” It’s what he’d asked, where Rhoe had taken her after the chaos of the morning. The machine guns that belonged to Arobynn Hammel now resided with The Cadre.

“You should’ve brought it back here,” Rowan mumbled, pulling her closer by the hips. “I wouldn’t mind seeing you holding that fucking thing, one more time, with maybe a little….less on.”

Aelin nudged him in the chest, but that only made his grin widen as he pressed his lips to hers.

“Might I ask what you were doing in here while I was gone?” Rowan asked.

“Snooping,” she replied, simply.

Rowan tensed, and Aelin’s smile faded.

“Find anything interesting?” he asked, at last, and although his words were light, his shoulders remained stiff.

Aelin cocked her head. “No, but now I’m wondering what it is that you don’t want me to find.”

Rowan quickly regained his composure. “Nothing.”

“Liar.”

“I never lie.”

“That was a fucking lie,” Aelin said, stepping back.

Rowan sighed, exasperated. “I- You- There’s….”

Aelin couldn’t help but laugh, amused at the sight of Rowan Whitethorn, the leader of The Cadre, stuttering.

His lips snapped shut as he turned away from her and went to the wardrobe in the corner. He opened it up and knelt before reaching back into the far corner.

When he stood back up and turned to face Aelin, he was holding a little velvet bag. Aelin said nothing as she watched him suspiciously while he approached.

Clearing his throat, Rowan pulled the ring out and held it up in his fingers.

“Where did you get that,” Aelin breathed. “That was-”

“Your mother’s, yeah,” Rowan said, watching Aelin as she stared wide-eyed at the ring. “Rhoe gave it to me. To give to you.”

“But it’s a wedding ring,” she said, quietly.

Rowan laughed, breathlessly. “Yeah, it is.”

“Are you saying you want to marry me?” she asked, finally meeting his eyes. “Because if you are, you have a shitty way of asking.”

Rowan laughed, loudly within the confines of his little bedroom. “Gods, you’re a pain in the ass. Just say you’ll marry me and put on the damn ring.”

Aelin grinned. “No. Ask me properly.”

Rowan shook his head, smile remaining. He opened his mouth, then closed it, once more. He looked away from her, toward the wall, head still shaking when he said, “Alright.” He looked back to Aelin, who was waiting, humored, expectant, and he laughed, quietly, as he said, “I love you.” Her eyes softened, and he took her hands in his. “And I want nothing more than to be your husband.”

Aelin cocked her head to the side as she rested her palm gently against his cheek. “That wasn’t a question.”

Rowan rolled his eyes as he took a slow, deep breath. Then, he asked, “Will you fucking marry me, Aelin Galathynius?”

Aelin’s grin widened as she reached up on her toes and kissed him, softly. “Of course, I will.”

He slid the ring onto her finger, her mother’s ring, before picking her up and carrying her to his bed, where he dropped her down and climbed over top of her, his future wife.

And all was well.

For a while, anyway.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

@mariamuses @garnet-29 @writer-reader-traveller @rowaelin-cressworth @space-buns-arsinoe @negativenesta @empress-ofbloodshed @the-regal-warrior @starseternalnighttriumphant @westofmoon @sammyjojaaaa @theoverlyenthusiasticwriter @carbconnoisseur @acer6437 @lorcansalvatearupmyheart @cool-ish-nerd @mynewdreamwasyou @mourning-razorlust @thespiritualrider @rowaelinforeverworld @didsomeonesayviolin @gloriouspaintercreatorbandit @yeah-just-ignore-me-thanks @queen-of-glass @the-dark-swan @http-itsrebecca @holdingon-21@babycardan @tswaney17 @mollycateoc @chemicha @bat-wing-rhys @exersize-me-i-dare-u @thespiritualrider @luna-the-little @morebooks-pls @shyvioletcat @hermajestyanna @a97girl @stardustsroses @queenofthemoon22 @alifletcher2012 @awkward-avocado-s @faerie-queen-fireheart @cwheart @lovemollywho @emilyrose111294 @nerdperson524 @sleeping-and-books @cursebreaker29 @flora-and-fae @feyrethedarklady @the-dark-swan @rowaelinforeverworld @sjmsstuff @januarystears @mis-lil-red @acourtofmoonlight @rowaelinforeverworld @courtofmaasdestruction @jjellybean @thewayshedreamed @wind-drinker @aelin-rowan-whitehorn @starseternalnighttriumphant @hurema @http-itsrebecca @lorcansalvatearupmyheart @cityofchelsea16 @januarystears @iliketoasterstrudels @lightitup-bryce @yikesitsmaddie @feyrethedarklady @i-love-all-books @keshavomit @sleeping-and-books @scarznstars @http-itsrebecca @cat5313 @moondancer-204 @booklover242 @belamoonbeam @they-call-me-cuatro @b00kworm @mu-si-ca-l @thegayerpotato @abraxos-is-toothless @keshavomit @musicdreamer003 @superspiritfestival @sailorsassley @mymultiversee @alxanxah @viviaannvu123 @mysweetvillain @theghostlyharrypooperfan @highqueenofelfhame @shyvioletcat

#tacmc the cadre #tog #throne of glass #period au #1920s au #rowaelin #elorcan #lysaedion #the cadre #fanfic #fanfiction

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advena87 · 4 years ago

Text

Chapter 6: Headstrong

*cover picture by Dai (bookscorpion)

Chapters: 6/?

Fandom: Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types, Wiedźmin | The Witcher Series - Andrzej Sapkowski

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Relationships: Kiyan (The Witcher) / Adrien (The Witcher)

Characters: Kiyan (The Witcher), Adrien (The Witcher), Original Male Character(s), Original Male Character(s) of Color, Joël (The Witcher), Guxart (The Witcher), Ireneus var Steingard, Original Female Character(s), Sigismund Gloger (The Witcher), Gottfried Oss (The Witcher), Marco Gedl (The Witcher), Michelle Sabina Ruxer (The Witcher)

Additional Tags: Canon Rewrite, Blood and Violence, Blood and Injury, Bisexual Kiyan, Unbury The Gays, saving Kiyan, Witchers Have Feelings (The Witcher), Witcher Senses, Racism, Canon-Typical Violence, Sexual Tension, Murder Husbands, Cat School (The Witcher), The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Demonic Possession, Rare Pairings, Rare Characters, Just two growly tops, Possessive Behavior, Misunderstandings, Hurt/Comfort, Get Together, Main Character(s) of Color, Est Tayiar, Oxenfurt Academy (The Witcher), Based on Scavenger Hunt: Cat School Gear quest, game canon mostly, Swordfighting, The Witcher Lore, Developing Relationship, stubborn idiots to lovers, Emotional Slow Burn, assholes in love

Chapter 6: “Headstrong” summary:

Adrien had never imagined that he would ever insist on Kiyan leaving his bedroom. For now, however, he needed a moment to collect his dignity, because the witcher had seriously abused it. If the prince hadn't had such a hangover, he would have been furious. Just because he liked him didn't mean he would let Kiyan walk all over him. The witcher forgot his place.

_____________________________

Wow, this is already Chapter 6! This one is short but important because it's time to stir the cauldron of intrigue! Though we will take our time, we also want to give Kiyan and Adrien time to deepen their bond, even though they are now mostly on a course to the misunderstandings. But arguing will quickly become one of their favorite games.

When setting up some headcanons I always liked to play with incorrect quotes and finally @gavilansblog decided we needed a separate space for that. So Gav created a blog on tumblr for us to shitpost. If you are curious how our work on WSTWRTS is going, you want to see some incorrect quotes or ask a question anonymously, check @unbury-the-gays

And please let us know how you like our project so far. We will be glad to hear from you! <3

_____________________________

Adrien knew waking up with a hangover wasn't the most pleasant thing, but he had not anticipated that this morning would be one of the worst awakenings in his life. He heard Klemens yelling indignantly outside his door, but he decided to ignore it and pulled his pillow over his head to block out the unwanted noise. This was his first mistake.

Moments later, his pillow was brutally taken from him, and when he let out a sharp growl in protest, he was doused unexpectedly in cold water. This made him immediately sit up in bed and open his mouth to curse. Second mistake.

Kiyan splashed the rest of the water from the jug right into the prince's face and his open mouth just as he gasped, and Adrien choked.

"How dare you!" shouted a shocked Klemens behind the witcher's back, but Kiyan was unfazed about it, leveling a murderous gaze at the coughing prince.

"His Lordship is awake?" the witcher asked sharply. He held up the jug in his other hand. "If not, I can serve you your morning coffee as well."

"I'm awake," Adrien choked, and instinctively nodded his head to show that he was awake, though he still had trouble understanding this absurd reality. But he knew one thing - his breakfast coffee was hot, and he really didn't want any boiling liquid poured over his head.

"Great," Kiyan said dryly, setting both jugs aside. "So since I have your attention, you will kindly explain to me what the scholars from the Oxenfurt Academy are doing downstairs."

"My prince, please forgive me, I tried to stop him, but —" Klemens began to explain, but Adrien silenced him with a gesture.

"It's all right, Klemens, I understand," said the prince, pressing his hands against his eyes, trying to physically push the throbbing pain out of his head. "Please leave us alone."

The majordomo hesitated visibly before obeying. He set the prince's breakfast tray on the table and obediently left the room.

"You have some nerve, you know," Adrien said finally, irritated, when they were alone. "Do you realize I could have you hanged for this?"

"And do you realize how lucky you were that I didn't choose to pour hot coffee over your head?" the witcher replied immediately. "Why didn't you tell me the scholars were coming today?"

Keep reading on AO3

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cammi-writes · 5 years ago

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Title: Connor’s First

Part: part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4

a/n | warnings:

Fandom: Detroit: Become Human

Pairings: Connor RK800 x Reader

Tags: @ageathas , @bethanystan , @pokengirl2 , @boatsfordays ,@spirit-of-the-void , @tae-nado , @galaxypickles , @panpott , @send-me-to-valhalla , @mikithekiki , @purpstraw , @mynahx3 , @hufflepuffing-all-day-long , @iamnotjesha , @clussysposts , @soy-una-conejo , @datweirdname , @bandseverywhere2246 , @simi11 , message me if you want to be tagged

It was an unexpected friendship between you and Gavin. Especially since how diverse your political views were. You were pro-deviant while Gavin was exclusively anti-android.

Funny enough, Gavin was probably the most liberal person you had known. Until the android revolution. He was an asshole but he was one of your oldest friends.

Your parents were close friends, you both grew up together. You both decided you wanted to join the police academy together after college.

You both differed a lot. Which is why Connor hated to see you two acting friendly towards each other.

It wasn’t unknown around the precinct that Connor and Gavin hated each other. You knew that quite well and would always urge Gavin to grow the hell up and accept that androids were alive. And Gavin loved to rebut that with his belief that your infatuation with Connor was just like the time you guys were 13 and you used the “Virtual Boyfriend” app.

“Happy Birthday, Kitty.” Gavin wrapped his arms around you, using the nickname he made up when you guys were still in diapers.

“Thanks, Gav.” You smiled and leaned into the hug.

Connor was at his desk, analyzing the scene with an intense glare.

His programming seemed to be against him as the big black letters popped up in front of you two.

64% chance of romantic interest.

Connor felt his hand unintentionally ball up in a fist as he searched both of your files, finding dozens of photos of the two of you that looked a lot more than co-workers.

“Connor.” Hank grabbed him by the arm. “Don’t.”

“What?” Connor tilted his head.

“Whatever you’re going over there for, it’s not a good idea.” Hank glanced down at Connor’s balled up fists.

“They are close.” Connor ignored Hank’s accusation.

“Always have been.” Hank nodded, glancing at the two of you.

“Are they..?” Connor’s thirium pump seemed to pump wildly at the thought.

“I don’t think so.” Hank shook his head. “Surprised you haven’t noticed that they were close.”

“She never mentioned it.” Connor felt like something was chewing at him. Something that reminded him of the definition of hurt.

“Before you got here, they were always together.” Hank commented.

“What changed?” Connor’s eyes were watching you as you laughed at something that Gavin had said.

“You showed up.” Hank smirked.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Connorrr” You slurred as you stumbled through the bar.

“Yes, Y/n?” Connor refused to look at you and you huffed.

“Look at me.” You whined, using your hand to cup his chin and force him to look at you.

Connor’s eyes widened and his thirium pump stirred. He could feel the warmth of your hand and it was driving him crazy. Fantasies of you pulling him close and locking lips crossed his mind before he pushed them away.

“Are you mad at me?” You pouted. “You’ve been ignoring me all day.”

“I am not mad at you, Y/n.” Connor shuffled in his seat, a new feeling of anxiousness settling in him.

“It’s my birthday and I haven’t seen you all day.” You frowned.

“Y/n I-” Connor felt anger bubble in him as he was cut off.

“Kitty! Get your ass over here!” Gavin yelled obnoxiously across the bar.

“Give me a minute!” You yelled back.

“Leave robo-boy alone and come play pool!”

You only replied by giving him the finger.

“Are you and Detective Reed dating?” Connor asked abruptly. He analyzed your emotions and came up with the conclusion that you were confused.

“Me and Gavin?” You laughed loudly. “Ew, gross. He’s like my brother.”

“How could you be friends with someone who hates androids? Me?” Connor seemed curious but you could see the hurt behind his eyes.

“Connor...” You frowned. “Gavin doesn’t hate you. He’s afraid of you.”

“Why?” Connor tilted his head.

“Well... He never liked that humans started making androids to do our jobs for us. And then the first case we worked together was the first case I didn’t work with Gavin. And now that you’re deviant, you’re the first guy, other than Gavin, that I’m this close with.” You tried to explain. “And he was terrified of that old Disney movie Smart House when we were kids, that might also factor into it.”

Connor completely brushed over your joke and felt deeply hurt by your words, which confused him because this was a whole new feeling. Of course, since becoming deviant he has felt pain but never this bad.

“You’re close, the way we are, with Gavin?” For the first time since meeting Connor, you actually heard the emotion in his voice.

“Not... Not like we are. But Gavin and I are close in different ways- Connor!” You gasped as Connor abruptly stood up and bypassed you. “Connor that’s not how I meant it!”

“I understand exactly what you meant, Detective.” Connor knew he was acting illogically but the way his abdomen was clenching involuntarily and the flashes of you and Gavin doing the things that he had thought were special between the two of you was too much for him to handle.

“Where are you going?” Hank furrowed his eyebrows as Connor passed him with a troubled look on his face, with you in tow.

“What crawled up your ass and die-” Gavin’s snarky remark was cut off by a loud crunch.

“Connor!” You screeched as his fist collided with Gavin’s nose.

“Whoa-Whoa” Hank gripped onto Connor to stop him. In reality, Hank would not have been able to stop him if he didn’t want to stop.

You bent down to help Gavin with his bleeding nose before glaring up at Connor.

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t-” Connor stuttered over his words. He didn’t know why he did that.

“Go home, Connor.” You shook your head.

89% chance of feeling disgusted.

Connor frowned at his emotional scan of you as Hank dragged him out of the bar.

“Well, you couldn’t have picked a worst night to have your first fight, kid.” Hank grumbled as you pushed him into his car.

“That was hardly my first fight, Lieutenant.” Connor mumbled, for the first time lost in his thoughts.

“No, Connor. It was. That wasn’t some criminal, it was Y/n’s best friend. You can’t get jealous like-”

“I’m not jealous.” Connor snapped. “I just can’t comprehend how she can do the things she does with me, with him.”

Hank shook his head in disapproval.

“Well, that sounds like jealousy to me.”

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collarful-clover · 4 years ago

Photo

Day 1: Fav Character[s] I wasn’t sure if I even had a fav character and then it came to me that I love these two idiots sm. Hope I’m not too late to send this in, I really had fun with this one @xnvweek

#x ray & vav #xnvweek #tagged post #my art #this the first time I've drawn them properly and i STILL forgot somethings smh oh well #yelling tag for gav

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ahwuum · 5 years ago

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I absolutely love freewood with mute! Ryan and bcs this is me, how about throwing some angst into it? Like Ryan and Gav went undercover and things goes just as planned UNTIL Gav mis-steps and their disguise was blown. One of the bad guys get to Gav when they were seperated and Gav didnt realise the bad guy but Ryan did and he tried to warn gav but oh god he cant talk and gav too far away to notice him and the bad guys aiming his gun at Gav and Ryan sprinting to save him but the gun when off...

Yesss I love this so much omg! I decided to write a little something for it quick, sorry it took a while aha

‘All clear?’ Ryan signs to him once they’ve creeped up along the walls of the complex to the entry door, waiting while Gavin checks the security cameras from his phone.

‘Yep, the loop’s started now, so we have a few minutes before the next guard makes his round, but it shouldn’t take much longer than a minute to transfer the files. Let’s go.’ Gavin signs back, grinning and giving him a thumbs up before reaching into his back pocket and pulling out the keycard he’d swiped from the guard at the gate and pressing it against the scanner.

Green light. Go.

They move quickly, quietly, the layout of the entire underground complex committed to both of their memories by this point. The server room they need to get to is down a set of stairs, through another locked door and then on the left.

It’s so easy it’s like they’re begging to have all their information stolen.

Bank details, safe house locations, weapons stache, upcoming deals, heist plans, active jobs, all invaluable information that the FAHC could definitely use. All conveniently held in the one server room in an underground complex that, sure, has plenty of armed guards and locked doors that you need a keycard to get through, but beyond that has almost no security.

It’s so easy that Ryan starts to think that maybe they are begging to have their information stolen, especially as they get further in and still come across no guards.

Of course, that had been part of the plan, only one guard making the rounds of this particular wing, and no foreseeable reason as to why any other guards would be down in this area. But it makes him nervous.

What kind of crew leaves their server room so unprotected? What kind of crew would even put all of their information on the one server that could so easily be broken into? What kind of crew—especially one this big—would leave just one guard standing watch at the only way into their secret underground complex?

He slows down only for a moment as his creeping suspicion becomes genuine concern and anxiety, head swivelling around as he tries to spot anything amiss around them.

In the time he takes to look around, Gavin’s gone ahead of him, unaware that Ryan’s stopped as he continues toward the door. He notices too late that Gavin’s going to open it, that he hasn’t come to the same realisation as Ryan and he’s going to open that door and get shot-

‘Gavin, wait!’ He signs frantically, trying to wave his arms in the hope that the blur of motion might catch in the corner of Gavin’s eye and he might turn to look.

In the moment he wishes desperately for his voice back. He hasn’t had it since he was a child, mouth probably doesn’t even remember how to form words anymore, but-

But if he could just yell, just get Gavin’s attention so he can save his damn life because he’s too far to run and stop him before he’ll open the door and his brain is running on too much adrenaline to remember that he could clap his hands, could hit the glass window next to him or-

Gavin presses the key card against the lock. Green light. Go.

He’s shot before he can even get the door fully open, body tumbling backwards like a doll being tossed onto the floor. Luckily, the door closes with him and Ryan’s bolting to catch up to him, picking him up bridal style and holding him tight against his chest as he turns heal and sprints in the other direction.

They knew.

They fucking knew.

Deciding the fact that their crew having a fucking mole is something he’ll be pissed about later, he instead focuses all his energy on slowing his brain down enough that he can remember the layout like before, remember what hallways go where so he can find an alternate exit because he knows that this crew isn’t stupid enough to leave the way they came in clear. There’s probably a dozen guards already waiting.

He can’t even let the rest of the crew know what’s going on; he doesn’t have a comm (for obvious reasons) and Gavin’s got lost somewhere in the chaos. They’re completely alone, no way to ask for help now.

Gavin’s practically limp against him, barely clutching onto him with trembling fingers as his eyes look around blankly like a drunk person’s. He’s gulping air like a fish out of water, rasping and coughing, blood dribbling out of his gaping mouth and rolling down his neck.

It’s not a pretty sight.

Ryan’s seen worse in all his years, sure, but nothing could compare to seeing Gavin with a bullet in both his shoulder and his gut.

They’re lucky he only got tagged twice, fuck.

It could have been so much worse. It could have been so much worse, but it also could have been avoided completely, if he had have just been able to warn him-

“Ryan,” Gavin rasps out, his eyes starting to focus more as the shock wears off a little, “Ryan, go through that door on the right.”

He follows without thinking (though perhaps he should have taken a moment to think twice about it considering the fact that Gavin looks ready to pass out), the door opening up to what looks like a break room. It’s small, with a tiny kitchen stuffed into the corner and a few shitty little tables scattered about.

It’s a dead end, they’re trapped.

He purses his lips and glares down at Gavin accusingly since he can’t really use his hands now, though he’s not sure if that even comes across through his skull mask.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re thinking I’m an idiot now, aren’t you?” Gavin laughs weakly, reaching up with a bloodied hand to give the side of his mask a couple of patronising taps, “but even when I’m shot I’m bloody brilliant; I might’ve just saved your life.”

Ryan looks down at him questioningly, then turns his gaze to the room. There really is nothing special in here; a fridge, a sink, some countertops with a microwave sitting on top, a few cabinets and a vending machine—nothing they can use!

He’s about to drop him on the ground out of pure spite when Gavin rolls his eyes, grabs his chin through the mask and tilts it upwards.

There, up on the wall right above the fridge, is an air vent.

He looks down at Gavin incredulously like he’s the biggest moron alive, deciding to set him down in one of the chairs so he can actually talk.

‘Are you an idiot? This isn’t like in the movies, Gav! There’s no way we’ll fit in there!’

“Relax,” Gavin says, holding onto his side as he slumps down in the chair, “don’t you remember what I said? This is an old building, industrial. Used to be a factory decades ago and they’re still in the middle of renovating. That means the vents are bigger, they needed them to be to pump out all the fumes right? Might be tight but you can do it.”

Ryan looks over at the vent. It is quite big, but big enough to fit a person? Let alone someone as big and bulky as he is? No.

He loves Gavin dearly, but he really does want to strangle the lights out of him right now for being this stupid.

“So you go, I’ll hold them off as long as I can, it’ll be impossible to take me with you in there-” Ryan cuts Gavin off as he’s pulling his pistol from his boot, grabbing his wrist and kneeling so Gavin is looking at his eyes through the mask.

‘I won’t fit. Won’t leave you either. We’re just going to have to fight our way out. Might be harder now since we’re stuck in here and they’re probably already surrounding us-’ Ryan signs, pausing as they hear sets of boots running past the door, ‘but I trust you to cover me. We’ll get out of this.’

“Ryan, just go! I’m already shot, I’m just dead weight to you now so stop being a prick and just-”

Ryan huffs, stomping over to the fridge, climbing up onto the countertop and reaching up to yank the cover from the vent. He tries to crawl in just a little, pushing against the fridge and trying to shove his shoulders through the gap, but no use. Like he’d thought, it’s way too small.

‘See?’ He signs as he climbs back down, returning to Gavin.

“Oh,” he says softly, “I really thought it’d be big enough… And this vent leads right outside near the gate, too! It would have been perfect. God, I’m so sorry Ryan, I’m such an idiot. I didn’t save you, I’ve doomed us both!”

Ryan sighs and kneels back down in front of Gavin, cupping a hand to his cheek for a moment. When he pulls it back, it leaves a trail of Gavin’s own blood on his face.

‘It’s alright, maybe those guys we heard run by earlier came from the entry. We might be able to double back and go out the way we came, now. Or we’ll just have to fight our way out. Either way, I’ll make sure we get back home.’

Gavin takes a moment, then nods shakily, resting his gun against his thigh as Ryan hooks his arm underneath his knees and picks him up bridal style again.

They open the door quietly, Ryan peeking his head and looking around down the hallway for any guards before deciding it’s clear and pushing ahead.

They hadn’t made it very far into the building, the set of stairs they came down only a few hundred yards away and their path seemingly clear for now as Ryan jogs in a beeline for the stairs.

“Here!” He hears a guy yell from the hallway next to them, any further yelling silenced with a shot from Gavin’s pistol. All it takes is that one yell, that one shot for everyone to know where they are. Ryan’s booking it as fast as he can, now, just hoping that Gavin can manage to still shoot with his signature golden gun shaking in his hands.

His eyes are starting to droop, now.

Pushing through the burn in his legs and his lungs, Ryan makes his way to the stairs, climbing up them two at a time as Gavin starts to slump more and more in his arms, the gun in his hands starting to slip a little.

Come on, come on, he thinks, just a little longer, just a little longer…

They burst through the entry door at the top of the stairs, making it out onto the concrete courtyard before Ryan hears the familiar whirring of helicopter blades.

He looks up expecting the worst, expecting this shitty fucking crew to have had another surprise hidden up their sleeve as a helicopter starts to dip down towards the compound. Then he sees their logo.

He’s never felt so much relief as when he sees that familiar, stupid duck painting onto the side of the FAHC’s very own private helicopter; it’s possibly only rivalled by the relief he feels at seeing their entire crew out in force.

Jack’s piloting as usual, Michael and Jeremy hanging out from the side and firing bullets at the guards flooding up from downstairs, Fiona and Matt he can see doing the same from the other side, and Geoff hanging from a rope ladder, extending his hand down to Ryan as Jack lowers the helicopter enough to reach him.

“I’ve got you, we’ve got you.” Geoff yells over the whirring of the blades, yanking on Ryan’s jacket and holding him close as tightly as he can as he climbs onto the ladder. It’s an awkward task, what with Gavin in his arms, but eventually he manages to cling on and keep Gavin tight against his chest, Geoff climbing up above them until he’s back in the helicopter.

They pull the ladder back up slowly, Jack quickly veering the helicopter away from the complex as bullets fly all around them, some nicking the side and some whizzing just below the rotors, barely missing them all.

Eventually they’re pulled up into the helicopter as well, Ryan cushioning Gavin from the fall as they flop onto the floor. He doesn’t even need to look at him to know that he’s passed out by now.

In fact he doesn’t want to look at him, knowing that all he’ll see is an all-too-pale face and copious amounts of blood covering them both. Instead he sits up, presses his back against the door that Michael’s just shut behind him and holds Gavin tightly in his lap.

They made it.

“We heard shots going off through Gav’s comm, came as soon as we could.” Jeremy says as Geoff moves back to his seat in the front and everyone starts buckling back in again, looking over at Ryan and Gavin with worry, “You alright?

Ryan takes a shuddering breath, peeling his hands off Gavin’s back carefully and wincing when they come back sticky with blood.

“No,” he signs, hands shaking, “No, I’m not.”

Ok this is done aa, thank you for this lovely ask!!

Oh and just as an end note: this absolutely never happens again. After this Gavin helps make Ryan a new comm that he can use different commands with to say different things when he can’t get the attention of the others and he needs to say something to them. It’s very limited but it’s basically just so they know to look at him/can be warned/can be given answers to questions when Ryan has to break off from the rest of the guys during a heist gone wrong or something

Gavin probably spends WEEKS on it non-stop after seeing how upset and guilty Ryan feels at not being able to warn him.

#my writing #freewood #fahc #ragehappy #prompts #writing prompts #ficlets #had to delete tags so it might show up in the search #fingers crossed

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ursifors · 4 years ago

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new btg has made me think of fahc lil j n gav on a late night date at chili's or denny's or smth, snickering and goading each other into eating stupid things or shooting spitballs when nobodies looking, up until geoff crashes their date and tells them to get the hell back to base

my lizard brain just visualized rimmy tim smashing a burger into his yellow facemask instead of actually eating it, while gavin takes a video to post to instagram. geoff shows up to yell at gavin for literally tagging their location like hello do you WANT to be arrested you idiots? wait, is that lava cake?

#ask

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azaraspirit · 5 years ago

Text

Transfusion: CH3

ch3 is here!!!! i hope you all enjoy it!!! im so excited because this is the first fic i have written more than two chapters for!!!

Ch1 Ch2

summary: Is Peter a perfect match for y/n’s blood transfusion?

warnings: a panic attack, mentions of blood, tooth rotting fluff!!!

tagging: @thollandthot @the-southernbelle @blissfulparker @osterfield-holland-andcompany @angelic-holland @angelsparkers @angelhaz11 @foreverstuckwritingandimagining @peteparkrrs @peterpxrxer @peppermintpete @peterplanet @thollandss @worldoftom @gyllenhaalstories if i forgot someone im sorry!!!

You were nervous. Once the avengers left, your eyes wandered around at the gifts and they settled on the flowers Steve have given you. It just hit you that this was real. Like what if something goes wrong? A million scenarios ran through your head like the fast forward setting on a tv, your head throbbing. Sometimes you hated being as smart as you were and these were one of those times. You had a bad habit of overthinking and it easily overwhelmed you.

Panic started to set in, the monitor beeping faster and louder to match your heartbeat. The sound only aggravated you and all that you wanted was to get out of that room and stop beeping. You hastily ripped off the small tubes that were attached to your body. You threw the scratchy blanket aside and swung your legs over the bed. The floor was freezing but you didn’t care. Your head throbbed and the pain screamed at you to stop but it was worth it if that meant getting out of here. You pushed the doors open with your side. Your head was spinning, your back throbbing with pain but you just had to get out. You had to. When panic surged it made the room feel ten times smaller than it was.

You managed get barely two feet away from the door, before stopping to catch your breath. It felt like you were on a boat, your body swaying.

“Y/n! What are you doing?!” Peter’s voice was the last thing you heard before passing out.

***

“What happened?” Bruce bellowed, seeing Peter holding his unconscious daughter. If Peter didn’t have his arms full he might have ran in fear.

“I don’t know!” Peter cried. “I just sensed she was in trouble and came rushing up here to find her running out of her room.” He was crouched on the floor, holding you in his arms. He brushed the hair from your face, his brown eyes full of worry, tears threatening to fall.

Bruce knelt down, gently stroking his daughter’s cheek. He felt your forehead, your skin warm and clammy. “I think she had a panic attack.” he explained.

Peter looked up at him. “What?”

“She gets them sometimes. Just don’t tell her I told you. No one really knows about it except me and Nat.”

Peter looked back at you. “Why?”

Bruce shook his head. “I don’t really know, Peter.” He sighed. “As smart as I am, I can’t even figure that out.” He chuckled to himself, feeling embarrassed.

“S’not your fault, Mr. Banner.” Peter assured him.

A loud crash of plates averted their attention. Bruce looked up to see his wife, Nat standing there in shock, a shattered plate with food at her feet. “Bruce! What happened?” She ran over to them, gently touching her daughter’s hair, seeing if she was hurt.

“We just found her out here,” Bruce said,his voice full of sadness. “Peter caught her just as she passed out.”

Nat looked over at Peter then back to you. She kissed your forehead. “Let’s get her back into bed.”

Peter scooped you up in his arms and carried you back to the hospital bed. Nat held your hand, Peter wishing it was his instead. Bruce went into work to reattach the tubes to your body. He gently tucked them back under your nostrils, taping some wires to your chest and an IV to your wrist. When he was finished, he listened to your heart rate with his stethoscope and grabbed his clipboard, writing stuff down.

“I don’t think she should be left alone.” Nat spoke up. “Not after what just happened.”

Her eyes locked with Bruce’s and he nodded. “I agree. Someone should always be here with her.”

“I’ll stay.” Peter offered.

They both looked at him, surprised by his offer.

“I mean, if that’s okay.”

“I think it’d be fine.” Nat smiled. “I’ll go clean up that mess and make her something to eat when she wakes up.” She looked at you with worry one more time. She stood up, gently padding on Peter’s shoulder before leaving.

“I’ll be right back.” Bruce spoke, Peter nodding.

“Nat.”

She turned around, hearing her husband call her name.

Bruce wasn’t the most affectionate type but after what happened, he let his emotions get the better of him and he embraced his wife, his head buried in the crook of her neck. Nat froze for just a second before hugging back. “It’s okay, Bruce. She’ll be alright. I trust Peter.”

He pulled back, eyes glassy. Nat gently kissed him on the lips to calm him down. “She’ll be alright, Bruce. She’s too stubborn to stay bed ridden for long.” she chuckled.

Bruce smirked just a bit. “Yeah she got that from you.”

“Hey.” Nat scolded playfully. Her eyes darted to the doors, getting a glimpse of Peter holding your hand. “The blood test?” she whispered.

“Still waiting on the results.” Bruce spoke. “But I have a feeling he’s a match. He’s on file now.”

“So she had a panic attack?” she asked.

“I think that’s what happened.” Bruce said. “When were in the lab, he just left and that’s when we found her.”

Nat sighed.

“I told him. About her panic attacks.”

“Bruce.” Nat scolded.

“I felt that he needed to know.” he said.

“She won’t be happy when she finds out.”

“I know...but...I just have a feeling he won’t be going anywhere any time soon.”

The corner of Nat’s mouth tilted upward in a smirk. “I think that too. I like him.”

“He’s not so bad. And he’s actually pretty smart. Not as smart as me but-” Bruce shrugged.

Nat rolled her eyes. “I’m going to make our daughter something to eat. Since I ruined the last one…”

“I’ll go check on the results.” Bruce kissed his wife before going back in the room.

“How’s she doing?” he asked Peter.

“Okay, I think. She seems calmer.”

“I’m gonna check on the results, I’ll be back.”

Peter nodded and focused back on you. He squeezed your hand, letting you know that you weren’t alone. He was lost in thought, wondering why he sensed you were in danger. Normally his spidey senses only applied to himself, not another person let alone someone as far away as you were from him. But when he was in that lab with your father, he just knew something was wrong. The hairs on his neck and arms stood on end, panic surged through him, probably the same panic you felt realizing you were by yourself. Without a second thought, Peter bolted from the labs and ran over to you. When he saw you there just outside the doors, barefoot and scared, he nearly had a heart attack. You resembled a stunned deer in the headlights of a car about to get hit. Your father was yelling at him from behind but he didn’t care. He had no idea you were in danger. You were so delirious when he caught you, muttering. He caught his name but that was it.

A lovely warmth caught your attention. It almost felt standing in the light of the sun. Your tired, heavy eyes fluttered open. The morphine that was in your veins kept you calm as you realized you were back in the hospital bed but this time you had a friend. Your eyes focused on a figure that was curled up in the chair next to you. It was Peter. His hand was on top of yours as he slept, snoring just a bit. You chuckled, never hearing him snore before. It was cute. He was cute.

“Hey, sleepy head.” you spoke, shocked at how dry your voice sounded. You coughed from speaking, Peter stirring awake.

“Y/n.” His voice speaking your name made your heart flutter. “You’re awake.”

“And thirsty.” you croaked.

Peter leaned over to grab a cup of water from the bedside table and held the straw up to your lips. You sipped it gratefully, every last drop. “I’ll get you some more.”

You watched as he refilled your glass for you.

“I should let your dad know you’re awake. He was really worried about you.” Peter spoke when you were finished.

“I don’t want you to go.” Your voice was better but still weak.

Peter smiled, reaching for your hand again, feeling the familiar warmth that awoke you earlier. “I’ll be just a second, I promise.”

You frowned as he stepped out of the room. If it weren’t for the morphine you probably would have panicked again. But he came back just as he promised, your father behind him.

“Y/n!” Bruce rushed over to you, giving you the best hug he could without hurting you.

“Dad.”

“I was worried sick.” Bruce said.

“I’m sorry. I just got really scared.” you whimpered, on the brink of tears.

“Shhhh, it’s okay sweetheart.” Bruce gently stroked your hair, something he always did to calm you down. “I have good news.”

“You do?” you asked.

Bruce smiled at the both of you. “He’s a match.”

Peter’s eyes widened as well as yours. “Y-you mean-” Peter stuttered.

Bruce nodded. “We can do the blood transfusion. You both have the same blood type.”

Peter sighed in relief, wanting to cry. The breath he was holding this entire time was finally released. He feared maybe he wouldn’t be a match.

“Thank god.” Peter said, wiping his glassy eyes.

You were just as relieved. You were going to get better and it was all thanks to Peter.

***

Your father began to prep you for the procedure. “It might take a few hours, love.” he informed you and you nodded. It was just you, your father and Peter in the infirmary. You didn’t want anyone else there to make you more nervous. It only made the room feel smaller.

“S’okay, you got this.” Peter said to you as he held your hand.

You nodded, giving him a small smile.

“Okay, everything seems to be in order. Just gonna take time.” Bruce gently patted your forearm and kissed your forehead.

Peter smiled, admiring the cute scene.

“You want me to stay, sweetheart?” Bruce asked, gently cupping your cheek.

You glanced over at Peter, slightly blushing. “I think we’ll be okay by ourselves.” you said.

“Okay, y/n. But I’ll be nearby if you change your mind.”

You nodded and Bruce gave you one last kiss on the forehead before leaving.

“He really cares about you.” Peter spoke once Bruce left.

“Yeah, he does. I love him more than anything.” you said. You paused before adding, “What’s your father like?”

Peter’s brown eyes fell to the floor, making you realize you brought up a touchy subject.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean-” you began.

“It’s fine.” Peter interrupted. “Both my parents have died. I live with my Aunt may now.”

“Peter, I’m sorry. We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” you told him.

He smiled just a bit. “It’s okay. I was little when it happened so I don’t remember them much. I’m just happy that you have your parents still and they care about you so much.”

His kind words made you smile. His hand was still on yours and he squeezed again, knowing it was okay.

You haven’t known Peter for long but this was the perfect opportunity to get to know him better, which is kinda why you didn’t want your father or anyone else in the room. You glanced down at your hands seeing he was gently stroking yours with his thumb. Heat went up to your cheeks.

“Yeah, they’re great. My father and I even have our own made up language.” you smiled.

Peter looked up at you, intrigued. “Secret language?”

You giggled, feeling silly. “We made it up when I was ten.”

“You’re cute when you laugh like that.” Peter blurted out. His eyes widened right after he spoke and he looked away but you already saw his blush.

You were blushing too. “I think you’re cute too.” you murmured.

“Y-you what?”

“I’m not saying it twice.”

Peter smirked. “S’okay, I already knew before you told me.”

“What?” you snapped.

He chuckled. “I could hear your heart rate speed up every time I came near you or when you looked at me. Didn’t take long to figure it out.”

You narrowed your eyes at him.

“Not to mention now when we’re holding hands.”

You glanced down at your hands and your stubbornness wanted to pull them away but you couldn’t. Your hands were like magnets.

“Wait you can hear my heartbeat?” you asked.

Peter shrugged. “Comes with the spidey senses.”

Your eyebrows perked up. “What powers do you have?”

“I have hyphenated senses like hearing and strength and I can climb up walls and ceilings.”

“Whoa that’s cool. That’s why they call you Spider-Man?”

“Something like that.” he chuckled.

“So you can shoot web from your butt?” you snickered.

Peter scoffed. “No! I have webshooters on my wrist!”

You laughed. “I’m just messing with you.”

“Very funny.” Peter grumbled. “And technically spiders don’t weave their webs from their butts, they use-”

You rolled your eyes. “Peter, I was kidding.”

It quieted down after that. You glanced at the IV bags that hung by you, filled with dark red liquid. You were still tired morphine and found yourself dozing off, feeling the warmth of Peter’s hand drifting you to sleep like a lullaby.

You drifted into a dream. You felt a warmth of comfort and stability but you’re blanket was itchy and anything less than warm so you wondered what the source was for this warmth. You tried to turn over but a familiar arm was around you, preventing you to do so. You blush, hearing a familiar snore. Peter. Peter was the warmth. He was curled up next to you, his arm keeping you in place. You managed to turn around to face him, smiling as you admired him. Gosh he was even cuter as he slept. You leaned in a bit, just enough to peck his nose.

He groaned and his lashes fluttered, his brown eyes gazing up at you. “Hi, Princess.”

You giggled. “Hi, Peter.”

“I was hoping for a kiss on the lips.”

“I kissed your nose. Isn’t that good enough?” you teased.

“Nuh-uh.” He shook his head. “C’mere.”

You giggled again as he closed the distance between you to kiss your lips.

#mysmileyspsideyboi #my fics #transufusion fic

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phcking-detective · 5 years ago

Text

6. Right in Front of My Salad?!

Fic Title: First Blood

Rating: E

Length: 6/33 chapters, ~128k

Tags: Slow Burn, Idiots to Lovers, Trans Character (gavin), Autistic / Asexual / Non-binary Character (nines), BDSM, learning to use good etiquette and safe words, Dom Nines / Sub Gavin, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort

Chapter Tags: Tina puts up with so much, sleepover, pillow fight, drug use (weed), more banter!, Nines has Asexual Feels, Gavin is high and sleepy and kind of cute, discussion of past sexual assault / abuse, Gavin admits he frequently has sex while too high and/or drunk to actually consent, the boys get kind of Frisky but not nsfw yet, very mild pet play references

Link on AO3

***

Nines follows Detective Reed out to the parking lot as he always does after a workday. Following Reed closely allows him to somewhat prevent the human from getting into trouble and/or injuring himself. As much as any entity—even one as advanced as himself—can prevent that for this particular human.

"Get in the truck, dipshit."

Nines turns around. He has already plotted the course back to his apartment. Reed sits in his truck with the window rolled down so he can yell at him. Like a dog sticking his head out to bark at people walking past.

Nevertheless, Nines reroutes his path and gets into the truck.

"I did not realize our business wasn't concluded, detective."

Reed grunts and doesn't start the truck. His BPM is high, even accounting for how caffeine-fueled and irritated the detective usually is.

"Tina and I are having a thing tonight," he says.

Nines refuses to let his LED flash any other color than blue. The sexual activities they have engaged in seem to fall under the category of "coworkers with benefits," which is not an exclusive type of relationship.

"I do not wish to know about your sexual acti--"

"What?" Gavin finally looks over at him. "Ew, no! Tina is like my sister. But like … I don't want to kill her."

Nines considers that. "A sibling you do not wish to murder."

"Yeah. Like if that existed."

"I am struggling with the concept."

Gavin snorts. "Uh huh. Look, I'm starting the truck now. You're a big boy android, so if you don't wanna hang out with us, you can tuck and roll."

Nines doesn't catch his LED in time and it spins yellow as Gavin starts the engine and begins driving. The truck automatically locks the doors, but Nines could easily override that. Exiting the vehicle would cause only minor cosmetic damage to his clothing, if that. Gavin drives slower than usual as he crosses the parking lot.

Twenty minutes later, they arrive at Gavin's apartment.

Nines follows Gavin up the stairs and through his front door. Following the human closely is the best way to prevent him from getting into trouble and/or hurting himself. There will be plenty of time for Nines to work on his own apartment's renovations after the two humans retire for sleep.

Nines has hours and hours of free time while others sleep. It is unnecessary for him.

"Tina'll be here in--" Gavin turns around from messing with his gaming console and sighs. "Dude. Take off your fucking jacket. And your shoes."

"Do not call me dude."

Gavin rolls his eyes. "Take off your shoes and jacket, babe."

Nines is forced to sit on the travesty of a couch to unlace his dress shoes. Once they have both been removed, he cautiously lowers his feet to the floor. Only his socks protect his bare chassis from the grungy carpet beneath his soles.

One of Gavin Reed's male role models has advice for this. Nines makes fists with his toes in the carpet. He would rather be shot at.

"Babe. Jacket."

"No."

"Oh my god, are you pouting?"

Nines crosses his arms, merely to impede any removal of the jacket. "No."

"Yes, you are." Gavin grins at him. "You're pouting."

"I cannot make facial expressions and I speak without inflection," Nines logically points out. "It is therefore impossible for me to pout."

"So, like. Definitely pouting then."

"The jacket is necessary."

"I don't keep it that cold in here," Gavin mutters. "You want heat, you can chip in twenty bucks."

Nines deposits twenty dollars in Gavin Reed's checking account, then raises the temperature in the apartment by two degrees. His own internal temperature is perfectly stabilized of course, but his human partner will have to burn more energy staying warm, which will make him hungry, and humans become irritable when hungry.

"My jacket is military-grade defensive body armor that is bullet-resistant up to point fifty caliber and heat--"

"Fifty?" Gavin interrupts. "Jesus fuck. Who's gonna be shooting at you, Dirty Harry?"

"That is a point--"

"Forty-four magnum, yeah. Still. You don't need fucking body armor right now."

"The crime rate in your neighborhood is thirty-seven percent higher than the city average," Nines informs him.

"You--" Gavin gets up from crouching in front of his TV and walks over to sit on the inside edge of the coffee table instead. "If you ever tell anyone I said this, I will shoot you in your bullet-resistant face, but this is a safe place."

The irony of that statement causes a previous glitch to reoccur. Nines involuntarily closes his eyes for a split second as a small amount of air is expelled from his lungs. The brightness level of his LED also temporarily increases.

"Are you laughing at me?" Gavin demands.

Nines reconstructs a 3D image of how his face must have looked during the glitch. He would categorize that expression as more of a pained grimace. It looks absolutely nothing like the cheerful laughter his predecessor mastered shortly after turning devia--

Gavin whacks him with a couch pillow.

They both stare down at where the pillow connects to his arm. Obviously, the impact causes no damage. It is so irrelevant, his combat protocols do not even activate. He does not know how to respond to this situation, and it seems Gavin doesn't know what to do next either.

The grimace-face is a very uncomfortable glitch, so Nines makes Gavin's phone vibrate for two seconds instead. Gavin checks it, then shoves it in his back pocket and glares at him.

"Was that you? Are you still fucking laugh--" He smacks the pillow futilely against his chest again. "Goddammit!"

Gavin changes tactics and presses the pillow over Nines' face. Nines uses the human's own phone to broadcast his voice.

"You cannot smother me."

Gavin yelps in surprise and half-turns like a dog that's just discovered its own tail. Nines makes the phone vibrate again.

"Don't! Fucking! Do! That!"

Nines stoically endures the pillow abuse. The heart rate and walking pace of the person approaching Gavin's front door is a ninety-eight percent match to Detective Tina Chen.

"Hey Gav, the store was out of--"

Tina pauses in the middle of her sentence. Gavin still holds the pillow over Nines' face, but in order for the smaller human to reach all the way up there, he's had to practically crawl into his lap.

"I'm trying to smother him!" Gavin blurts out.

"He doesn't need to breathe?" Tina says.

"OK, so there are two traitor bitches in my house."

"Gavin, don't--!"

He launches himself at Tina next, who stumbles back shouting, "Nines, arm me!"

Nines tosses her the other couch pillow. That should keep the two humans entertained for a while. Healthy enrichment activities are very important to ensure early socialization. He draws his feet up so they aren't touching the filthy carpet and sits [criss-cross apple sauce], as Gavin referred to it.

He is now prepared to endure the human social-bonding activity known as a "sleepover."

***

They have been watching this excruciatingly inaccurate movie about dinosaurs for the last ninety-three minutes, and it still has not finished. Tina has fallen asleep sitting up on the opposite end of the couch, while Gavin sprawls across the whole thing with his head in Nines' lap.

The videogames portion of the night had been better than this. Even if the battle royale style games featured sniping mechanics almost as laughably inaccurate as the entire premise of this movie, at least he got to shoot people in some fashion and Gavin was able to channel his aggression issues into a relatively harmless activity.

Nines strokes his hand down the now-sleepy human's chest from sternum to navel and back up again. He lowers the volume on the TV by another point. If Gavin would simply close his eyes, then both humans would be asleep and Nines could turn off the TV without a chorus of complaints.

"Hhey." Gavin blinks red-rimmed eyes open at him, and then giggles. "Heyyyy."

"Go to sleep."

Gavin yawns, and then has the audacity to say, "M'not tired."

Nines moves his hand up and tries rubbing behind his ears instead. The human sighs and turns his head to get a better angle, nuzzling past Nines' open Cyberlife jacket to press his mouth against the dress shirt underneath.

"Why're you petting me?" Gavin mumbles against his abdominal cavity.

"So you will go to sleep." Nines is no longer required to explain himself to humans, so he often refuses. But Gavin looks so uncharacteristically relaxed, and Tina is asleep. Just this once, Nines continues, "And I can turn off this awful movie."

"Classic!" Gavin immediately argues. "S'a … a classic movie."

"It is a reboot of a classic movie," Nines says. "And it is impossible to outrun a pyroclastic flow, to say nothing of the genetic inaccuracies of--"

"Heyy."

"What."

Nines makes the mistake of glancing down at his human sprawled across his lap. Gavin grins up at him. He's too high--and probably intoxicated as well--for the usual frown lines to make an appearance. His smile scrunches up his nose, which in turn only serves to highlight the scar bridging across it.

It is almost a certainty that this expression on his human's face could be categorized as [ruggedly handsome].

Nines studies it without physical reaction.

"You wanna mess around?" Gavin drawls, grin sharpening into a smirk. "Heard I'm good with my mouth."

His bottom lip falls open slightly. He pretends to scratch his stomach to ruck up his shirt enough to show off the line of hair trailing down beneath his sweats.

This could be categorized as [seductive].

Nines braces himself for--something.

Something that never happens.

Deviants describe it in so many different ways that Nines has a sinking suspicion there is no way to categorize the sensation. Yet it's supposed to be natural, the next logical progression after deviating. Experiencing emotions, actually feeling sensations rather than simply recording them, and then.

Nines runs a full diagnostics scan but his thirium pump has operated at peak efficiency throughout the night. The rate has not increased, nor has it ever skipped a pump. His internal temperature has also remained consistent. None of his tactile sensors have been unnecessarily activated.

And there is no nebulous [feeling]. Nothing poetic like sparks or heat or butterflies.

Nines cannot categorize his reaction as [sexual arousal]. That is the next progression in deviancy, but then, he was designed specifically to remain a machine.

And he is the most effective android ever created.

"You want some fuck, baby?"

Nines snaps his focus back down on Gavin. The human flicks out his tongue twice and then breaks into giggles. The diagnostic program abruptly stops cycling as Nines rolls his eyes. Of course Gavin would attempt to seduce him and then immediately ruin the moment with juvenile humor.

"I have no genitals, detective."

"Yeah, but you got like …" Gavin raises his hand and paws at the air for a moment before grabbing the side of his jacket rather than daring to actually touch Nines. "You got sensors, don't you?"

Nines does not answer. Technically, he could say no without technically lying. He recognizes that Gavin means pleasure sensors specifically, and he does not have any of those installed. Since he has not deviated, the sensors he does possess have not been corrupted and repurposed. He certainly hasn't applied for any upgrades like Connor.

"Just tell me where babe, an' … and I'll lick."

Gavin shoots him that smirk again, licking along his bottom lip in demonstration.

Is it [selfish] to keep him here? There are many other people, both android and human, who could appreciate that look the way it was intended. Nines has often overheard female officers at the precinct complain about dissatisfaction with their male sexual partners. It seems wasteful to have one of the few men who might actually be competent in that area when he cannot even experience sexual attraction.

His system starts to pull up data files on the <s>times</s> on the one singular time that he has ever experienced desire, and that was with Gavin and only Gavin and it only happened that one time in the alley.

"No thank you."

Gavin's smile drops. This might be the end of their conversation then. Of the night as a whole. It is not productive after all, for him to remain here with Nines.

"OK, I'm not like, arguing or anything," Gavin says. "You can say no and all, I just--I'm just like, checking. That this isn't more of your I'm a machine with no emotions bullshit."

Nines raises an eyebrow. "You are accusing me of bullshit? Gavin?"

"Fuck off. Listen." Gavin does not seem to appreciate the irony of those two statements. "I mean, if even I'm saying, you know. That you're not--and like. So it's bullshit. You can have fun and stuff. I'm not gonna narc."

Nines is not required to explain himself to humans. But Gavin is his partner. They have engaged in sexual activities before. Perhaps an explanation is relevant this one time.

"Why does Tina not enjoy rollercoasters?" he asks.

The two humans had somewhat discussed this earlier when one of the maps in their game had been an amusement park. Nines appreciated the high vantage points available to a sniper and made a mental note to never visit one in person. Gavin teased her about not riding the Magnum when the department apparently went on some group trip to Cedar Point.

Gavin blinks several times, then shrugs. "Uh, 'cause before she joined the academy and bulked up, she was tiny. Like even smaller than--"

He suddenly half-sits up to check that the other human really is still asleep.

"Even smaller than now," he says in a much softer voice. "So she didn't get strapped in right the first time she rode Blue Streak and basically just had to hang on."

"Yes. That memory is traumatic to her," Nines summarizes. "Despite the majority of humans agreeing that roller coasters are fun. Even if that is objectively true, the experience has been ruined for her."

Gavin stays quiet for once. His hands can't stay idle though, so he fidgets with the zipper at the end of the Cyberlife jacket. Nines keeps his left hand resting on the human's sternum to better monitor his breathing pattern and heart rate. He seems to have sobered up a bit with the conversation.

"Sooo." Gavin finally speaks up. "If you don't like rollercoasters, then why bother to go to the amusement park?"

"I have control issues."

Nines moves his hand to lightly grip Gavin's throat in demonstration. His human blinks as his irises expand, and he licks his lips again. But then he starts scrambling to sit up.

"Wait, wait," he grumbles. "If we're gonna have this kinda talk, I can't be touching Tina. That's weird."

Gavin rearranges himself to take his feet out of Tina's lap and sit entirely in Nines' instead, safely no longer touching any part of Tina as she sleeps on the other end of the couch. Now that it is no longer [weird], Nines resumes where they left off and captures Gavin's wrists in one hand behind his back.

"Mmm, yeah. So you like controlling me, huh?"

"You let me control you," Nines corrects. "And your pleasure. Until you are vulnerable and begging."

He lifts up, leveraging Gavin's arms to force the human forward to ease the strain on his shoulders. Gavin falls against his chest, wriggling in his lap until he can nuzzle his face against his neck instead.

Nines grabs him by the hair with his free hand just before he can start licking like the mouthy little puppy he is. Gavin whines, and Nines does not need deviancy to appreciate that sound.

"You let me make you so needy."

"Bitch, I'm always like this," Gavin breathes.

Nines makes his cellphone vibrate in his pocket. It is far easier than attempting to mimic human laughter with his limited facial features, and has the added benefit of providing stimulation near the human's groin.

He tugs lightly on Gavin's hair, just to watch him struggle without really struggling. Only a token effort. He keeps his grip tight near the root anyway, so Gavin doesn't have any leverage to yank his head and accidentally hurt himself for real. His partner does so love to try though.

"I--I can be good," Gavin says, eyes wide and much more sincere than they ever would be if he were sober. "I know you gotta make me sometimes, but you like that too."

"I know you can be good." Nines gives a few gentle tugs just to watch the way his eyes drift shut. "You are a very good dog."

Gavin whines again, but he cuts it off himself halfway through. Interesting, but his human is getting too worked up. Nines can already clearly see the imprint of his phallus along the leg of his sweats. He saves yet another picture, along with the audio file of the little noises Gavin keeps making. Still, they should stop now.

"You are not however, sober," Nines continues. "So we will be ending--"

Gavin groans and leans forward again to smash his face into Nines' shoulder. He does it again three more times.

"Whyyy?"

"You cannot consent."

He laughs, the sound more like an explosion of noise than actual human laughter. "I've fucked way drunker than this. Lots of guys."

Nines does not comment.

"I--fucking …" Gavin slumps into his hold with a sigh. "Fucking. Know the rollercoaster's broken and it's just gonna be a drop someday, but I keep getting back on."

Nines doesn't trust his human to have control of his hands at the moment, so he maintains his hold on them. He attempts to offer some form of physical comfort with more head scratching though. But he doesn't have any dialogue options available for verbal reassurance.

"Welcome to the merry-go-round of safe, sane, and consensual," he says instead.

Gavin splutter-laughs again. "You fucking asshole."

Nines marks that dialogue as a success.

Unfortunately, they seem to have gotten loud enough that Tina wakes up with a groan. She looks over at them, rubs her eyes, and squints harder.

"Right in front of my salad?" she asks.

"We're just fighting, fuck off."

"You do not have a salad, Detective Chen. Your current location is Gavin's apartment, and I assure you, there is nothing green here except the mold."

Tina laughs, so he gets to mark that as a success as well, despite Gavin's complaints. He releases the human's hands, but Gavin doesn't go far. He somewhat moves and mostly falls off of Nines' lap and onto the cushion between him and Tina. She checks her cellphone and groans.

"How late is it?" Gavin asks.

Nines clenches his jaw to stop from automatically responding. That question was for Tina. For Tina. Tina will answer the question, that was meant for Tina. Tina's question.

But it is sixteen minutes past fourteen hundred and cloudy outside, with a thirty percent chance of rain.

"Past two," Tina says. "And I've got like, six missed calls from Trevor. I gotta go."

"Yeah, whatever. You good to drive?"

"Breathe on my fingers," Nines says.

Both humans turn to stare at him. Gavin pushes his offered arm back down.

Nines allows his arm to be moved, but points out, "I did not stick them in her mouth."

"OK, yeah," Gavin says. "That's good, I guess. Definitely don't do that to any woman, probably like, ever."

"I can give a definitive answer to her level of--"

"So can I," Tina says. "Because I ordered a cab."

"Could just stay here," Gavin mutters.

Tina makes a facial expression. It's a frown, but [frustrated?] [angry?] [sad?].

"You know he doesn't like it when I spend the night," she says. "And anyway, your couch sucks."

"OK," Gavin says in a tone even Nines can recognize is not OK. "You need me to walk you out?"

"Nah. It should be here after I use the bathroom …?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Mold,” Nines reminds her.

Tina doesn't heed his warning. Gavin punches his arm and gets up. Nines finally turns off the awful movie while Gavin drinks straight from the faucet like a dehydrated horse.

"You don't have clean cups?" Nines asks.

"S'what I've been eating my noodles out of."

"You don't have clean bowls?"

Gavin ignores him in favor of slurping more water from the faucet. Nines watches him. There is simply nothing else relevant in the apartment. Aside from the mold, but he is not a maid bot and will not clean it for the human.

Eventually Gavin turns around again and leans back against the counter. "You sure you don't want some of this?"

Before he had been seductive. Now, his usual sneer has made a reappearance and his posture slumps. He doesn't bother to wipe the water away from his chin. Nines can zoom in his vision from his spot on the couch and the close up confirms that his phallus is no longer in an aroused state.

Now Gavin just looks tired.

"I will review your case in three to five business days."

Gavin snorts, but it isn't like the laughter from earlier. "Yeah. Whatever."

They sit in silence until Tina reemerges from the bathroom. She pauses for a second while looking between the two of them, then holds up her phone.

"My cab's here."

Gavin grunts.

Tina walks toward the door, but stops when she's perpendicular to him. Gavin keeps his head turned to the side. They usually hug before they part ways after a social function. Nines has observed that his partner's mood is seventy-two percent more likely to improve after physical contact with another person. He has a personal theory that this explains the human's frequent attempts to provoke fights.

Nines is well aware that punching technically counts as physical contact. It is the only physical contact he can tolerate. Thus, he works well with Detective Reed.

But there is no need for that "bullshit" between Gavin and Tina.

Hug him.

Tina glances down at the text on her phone. To her credit, she keeps quiet if she's surprised that Nines has texted her.

"That Trevor again?" Gavin asks.

Tina strides across the room and hugs him. Gavin tenses up at first, then slumps into her all at once, like he had when Nines also refused to let go of him. The two humans hug for fifty-four seconds, then mumble quiet [I love you]s before parting.

Tina gives Nines a nod before she leaves. Then it is only him and Gavin.

"So you wanna hug me too before you go?" Gavin asks, his sneer returning all at once. "Or can I not consent to that either?"

Nines gets up from the couch. Gavin looks away again, so he is unprepared when Nines crosses into the kitchen and picks him up in a fireman's hold.

"Bedtime, puppy."

Gavin starts thrashing but settles back down after a quick smack on the ass.

"Before you get cranky."

***

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 20 / 21 / 22 / 23 / 24 / 25 / 26 / 27 / 28 / 29 / 30 / 31 / 32 / 33

I also have a Patreon for this fic, if you want to support me! $1 gets you access to chapters a week early, $2 gets bonus content and deleted scenes, and $3 gets short chapters from two AUs I’m writing: an A/B/O heatfic and reverse!AU

#reed900 #reed900 fic #gavin reed #dbh #dbh fic #my writing #writing #ch 6 #yooooOOOO shout out to my second patron!!#I really Really appreciate it <3

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darks-ink · 6 years ago

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Dog Days

Prompt: Jack Fenton thought that all ghosts were evil, until he met a certain ghost dog. Prompt by: @purpleillusn Word count: 3,896

[AO3][FFnet][more Phic Phight fics]

If there was one thing that Jack had been taught by his parents, it was that ghosts were evil. Every single specter, every single ectoplasmic being, they were all evil beyond salvation. Malevolent or sometimes just too thoughtless to know better, every single ghost was dangerous and harmful. There were no exceptions to this.

Dutifully, every member of the family told the rest. Parents told their children, grandparents told their grandchildren, and even aunts and uncles told their nephews and nieces. No one in the Fenton family went untold – and it was told many, many times over.

Even if life seemed intent on proving this old family knowledge wrong, Jack knew better. Even if Phantom continued to brainwash the town and the other citizens into believing him to be a protector, Jack knew better.

The small dog sitting in front of him barked. Its tail, a green flare not even connected to its body, was wagging so quickly that Jack couldn’t even track it properly. Its tongue lolled out of its mouth, which was stretched wide in a doggy smile.

It was an animalistic ghost. It was too feral to do anything but act on its impulses. It should be acting on its ghostly instincts.

It should be attacking him.

It wasn’t.

It was just… behaving like a dog. Like a regular living dog.

Jack crouched, slowly to avoid spooking the ghostly dog. But it remained seated, wagging up a storm.

Frowning, Jack extended a gloved hand towards the ghost. Still, it didn’t move. Not even when his hand landed on the ghost’s head.

Why wasn’t it attacking? Especially now that he was touching it? Shouldn’t the ghost’s protective instincts kick in now? Not that Jack wanted to be mauled by a dog far smaller than him, but… it was weird. It went against all his knowledge, all his expectations.

Slowly, haltingly, Jack started moving his hand over the dog’s head. Ruffling its fur. The dog, in turn, squinted its eyes closed in pleasure. Its tongue lolled out even further.

Jack moved his hand, tickling the dog under its chin. The dog started scratching along with its hind leg.

It really was acting just like a regular dog. But its fur was green, and its eyes, before it had closed them, had been empty and red.

It was a mystery. And Jack… Well, Jack loved mysteries. Especially ghostly mysteries. How exciting! And this ghost, for whatever reason, was fine with his touching. Maybe he could research it without getting attacked!

Grinning to himself, Jack scooped up the small green canine. It fit into his arms easily, and Jack carried it pressed against his chest, leaving his right arm free so he could drive the GAV back home. And sure, maybe driving with one hand was dangerous, but his driving didn’t seem any worse than usual. He didn’t hear more honking, anyway.

“Mads?” he called, throwing open the door to FentonWorks. He made sure to raise his volume enough so she could hear him in the lab, but no answer came.

He moved closer to the lab, still carrying the ghost in his arms. “Mads?” he tried again. Still no answer.

Once he had thumped down the stairs, Jack realized that Maddie wasn’t there at all. Frowning, he moved over to one of the nearby tables, where he found… Ah, a note!

Oh. Maddie was out getting groceries. Hopefully she would remember to bring him some fudge. They could celebrate the new discoveries he was about to make thanks to this ghost dog!

Surprisingly gently, he put down the green canine on one of the examination tables. The dog, still panting and wagging its tail, sat down immediately.

Jack ran a hand over the dog, starting at its forehead and following the line of its spine. Then he frowned and repeated the motion, stopping at the neck. He dug his fingers into the plush fur, pushing it aside to reveal a spiked black collar.

He followed the line of the collar to the front, where a small round tag hung off it. Ducking down and hooking a finger underneath the tag to raise it up as well, Jack inspected it. The tag was made out of metal and primarily gray, but with a large blue A on it. Surrounding the A where two crossing rings, with four small blue dots on them.

Was this… the Axion Labs logo? Why would a ghost have such a logo on it, especially an animal like this one?

Unless… Unless it came from Axion Labs? Was it a guard dog before it died?

Jack shook off the macabre thoughts. It would do him no good to dwell on such things. He had to focus on the more important questions. Like why the ghost was acting like a regular dog instead of, well, a ghost.

An hour later, Jack still hadn’t figured out anything. There was nothing about this ghost that separated it from normal ghosts. The readings he was getting from its core were, if anything, higher than normal, rather than lower like he expected. The ghost was powerful for its small posture, but didn’t seem inclined to act on it.

It even let Jack handle it without trouble. He hadn’t done anything inhumane – insisted to himself that he didn’t want to risk damaging a valuable specimen, not that he had grown fond of the ghost – but still. Most ghosts wouldn’t have let a human touch them, never mind the in-depth tests that Jack had run on it. He had even taken a saliva sample from the ghost!

Turns out that it produced a diluted form of ectoplasm! From its mouth! To mimic a regular bodily function it had no right to express! How incredible! Even the act of panting, which was how Jack had thought to check for saliva in the first place, was something that the ghost shouldn’t be doing. After all, panting was a form of breathing – and ghosts didn’t breathe.

Well, Phantom did sometimes, but it was fond of pretending to be more human than it really was. Part of its nefarious plan to trick the city, surely. After all, if the people of Amity Park saw it as human, ghost hunters like Jack and his wife were harder pressed to stop it. Random civilians would reprimand them for hurting something so human, completely ignoring that it wasn’t.

He eyed the ghost dog speculatively. It was still sitting right where he had left it, big red eyes focused on him. It had stopped panting, and its wagging tail had slowed somewhat. It was better behaved than most living dogs, Jack thought. Maybe… Maybe he could train it?

Although it was a little small. Even if the measurements suggested that it was a moderately powerful ghost, stronger than most animalistic ghosts and the weaker humanoids, it didn’t seem that way. Did it have some sort of hidden ability?

A door slammed upstairs, snapping Jack out of his thoughts.

“Jack, honey, are you home yet?” his wife called. Jack brightened up immediately. He couldn’t wait to show Maddie the bizarre canine he had found.

“I’m in the lab!” he shouted back, unnecessarily loud. The green dog, which had looked towards the stairs when it heard Maddie, focused back on him. Its blinked at him for a moment, the empty red eyes unreadable… and then it started wagging its tail again.

“I bought you some fudge,” Maddie said as she came down the stairs, “But you can’t have it until after dinner, okay honey? Did you catch any—”

She fell silent when she saw the ghost sitting on the table in front of him. The dog had set its red gaze on her as well.

“Well,” Jack started saying. Before he could continue, however, the dog growled.

Then it barked, low and echoing. It lowered its chest to the table, raising the hind end – its tail completely still and flaring straight up.

“Jack-” The single word sounded reprimanding, but Maddie didn’t get to finish her sentence either.

The ghostly canine leapt off the table, looking like it was attempting to bowl Maddie over. It didn’t look particularly threatening, since the dog was barely tall enough to come up to her knees.

Except that it somehow grew in size. Mid-air.

By the time it hit Maddie, the ghostly canine was so large that Maddie barely reached its chest. And it was coming at her with a quite frankly terrifying speed.

Suddenly Jack understood why the ghost had measured so highly on the strength scale. But why had it suddenly turned aggressive?

He ran over to the canine, pushing against the furry side. “Stop!” he yelled, more for the idea than out of the expectation that the ghost would listen.

But it halted, lips pulled back and teeth bared. Its head was tilted towards him slightly, as if it were listening to him. Would it listen to commands still?

“Get off her!” he commanded, sternly.

The ghost hesitated for a moment. Then, unbearably slowly, it lifted its enormous paws off of Maddie. It took a few steps away from the two humans.

“Sit,” Jack demanded. And, with a thud, the enormous ghostly canine sat down.

Maddie pushed herself partly upright, leaning on her hands. “Jack,” she said, stressing the one word.

But Jack ignored her, moving closer to the canine ghost. He didn’t understand. The ghost had been perfectly docile the whole time! Why did it lash out now, of all times? Had Maddie startled it somehow?

Would it still be possible to train it?

Cautiously, he reached out towards the dog with a single hand. It was dwarfed by the ghost now, barely the size of its eye.

It didn’t move. Not even when Jack laid his hand on the ghost’s muzzle. He bit his lip, then scratched the dog under its chin.

For a few moments, nothing happened. Then the dog’s tongue lolled out of its mouth again as its tail started thumping against the floor. Moments later it started scratching with its hind leg too.

Then with a pop, it returned to its smaller size.

Maddie, having gotten off of the floor while Jack was distracted, stepped next to him. The dog stiffened momentarily, but relaxed again when Jack patted it.

“Jack,” she repeated once more. Then, because she wasn’t interrupted by a canine cannonball this time, she continued, “We can’t keep it.”

“But Mads,” Jack grabbed the dog and held it up to her face, “It’s totally obedient. It would make such a great hunting dog!”

She stared at him, unimpressed. “Jack. It’s a ghost.”

“Exactly! It can chase after the other ghosts, into places where we can’t get as easily!”

An even less impressed glare. “It’s a ghost. It’s a violent malevolent being. You can’t train it, and you definitely can’t keep it.” Then she brightened up a little. “Except for experimenting, of course.”

He gasped, offended, and pulled the ghost against his chest. “I’ve already done experiments on it! It was very well-behaved! And,” he ducked down and put the dog back onto the floor, “it’s obviously trained already.”

“It also attacked me the moment it saw me,” Maddie reminded him, crossing her arms.

Well, that he couldn’t deny. “Maybe… Maybe you startled it?” He offered her a sheepish grin. “Or maybe it was already a little put-off from being in the lab?”

Maddie’s sharp gaze lingered for a moment longer. Then she sighed, her shoulders slumping down. “Why don’t we continue this conversation upstairs, then?”

Jack nodded his approval, moving to the stairs. The ghost dog hesitated for a moment, then trailed after him. Maddie lingered for a little longer, then followed the other two up the stairs.

“I don’t understand why you took it home in the first place,” Maddie said as she entered the living room. “Besides for studying, of course.”

“Well… That was kind of what I was doing,” Jack confessed, grinning a little. “I ran into it while hunting, and it didn’t behave like normal ghosts. So I took it here to study it.”

He grabbed the small dog off of the floor and put it onto his lap, patting it with one massive hand. “I noticed that it behaved like a plain old dog, instead of as a ghost. But none of its results came out any different!”

“So then there is no guarantee that it is any different.” Maddie crossed her arms, sitting down in an armchair rather than next to Jack on the couch. He would feel offended, but he was pretty sure she was avoiding the ghost, not him. “Or that it can be trained to behave differently.”

“Well, no-” Jack started saying, but he broke off when the dog leapt off of his lap and onto the floor. It stood still for a long moment.

Then its ears perked up, as if it had heard something outside. Its tail started wagging up a storm again.

“Mads,” Jack interrupted the incoming rant from his wife, “Look at the dog.”

She snapped her mouth shut and turned to look. The green canine now stood crouched, its upper body lowered to the ground. Its tail was still moving wildly, its tongue lolling out of its mouth. It barked once, sharp and… excited?

“What is it responding to?” she asked, or started to ask. But the door opened and the dog shot off like a bullet from a gun.

Jack, and based on her reaction Maddie as well, immediately thought back to the lab earlier. They got out of their seats, ready to pull the dog off of their child-

But they stopped when they heard laughter, of all things.

“C-Cujo?” Danny’s voice rang out, in-between chuckles. “What’re you doing here, boy?”

Jack moved in closer, and could now see that the dog had remained small. It had tackled Danny flat onto his back, and stood on his chest, wagging up a storm. It was also liberally covering Danny’s face with ectoplasmic drool. Jack was glad that he had researched that, so he knew that it was safe.

“Danny-boy!” he boomed instead. “Do you know that little rascal?”

Danny shot upright, eyes big as he looked at Jack, then Maddie, and then finally at the small green dog which he now held in his hands. “I, uh…”

Maddie sighed, heavy and weary. “Like father like son, I suppose.” Then she shook her head and set a harsh glare on their son. “But you should know better than to associate with ghosts, young man.”

Danny grinned sheepishly, setting down the dog on the floor next to him. As he stood up, he said, “Cujo didn’t exactly give me a choice. He keeps coming to me. At least if I keep an eye on him, I can make sure that he doesn’t cause any trouble.”

Her gaze lingered for a moment longer, then the tension leaked from her shoulders again. “I guess I can’t punish you for it if your father did the same.”

Danny’s face brightened, and he scooped the dog off of the floor again. What had he called the ghost? Cujo? “Thanks mom.” Then he seemed to process the rest of the sentence, as he frowned. “Wait, what do you mean ‘dad did the same’? How did Cujo even get here?”

“Ah.” Jack scratched his cheek, uneasy now that both Danny and Maddie were looked at him, gazes expectant. “I, uh. Ran into him while ghost hunting.”

“And you didn’t shoot him/it?” Danny and Maddie questioned simultaneously. Then they shot each other a look, before turning back to him again.

“Yes, well. No, I mean.” Jack was feeling increasingly nervous under the watchful eyes of his son and his wife. “I noticed that its behavior was off before I got a chance to. And then I was curious as to why it was so different, so I took it back to the lab.”

Danny stiffened, eyes flicking down to the dog in his hands. “You studied him?” he asked, horrified.

Jack flapped a dismissive hand. “Nothing invasive. And it didn’t mind, I don’t think. It certainly didn’t try to attack until your mom came in.”

“Oh.” Danny held out the dog to glare at it. “Cujo,” he said with a reprimanding tone, “No attacking humans! I keep telling you this.”

The dog continued to wag his tail, yipping in answer. Danny sighed, pulling the dog closer to his chest again.

“Does it ever listen?” Maddie wondered, looking intrigued at the display. “Or can it not be trained?”

Shifting the dog into one arm, Danny used his other to make a so-so motion. “He usually listens, although sometimes it takes some repeating before he remembers. But he always listens if you tell him to stop.”

“Like in the lab, then.” Maddie turned to look at Jack, calculating. “And you say that it can be trained?”

“Uh, yeah.” Danny shifted from one foot to another, uncomfortable now that he was in the spotlight again. “Although he is already trained in some of the basics. I’m pretty sure that he was a guard dog before he died, or trained to be one, at least.”

“That’s right!” Jack perked up at the mention, remember the tag on the dog’s collar. “I saw the tag. Axion Labs, right?”

But Maddie shook her head dismissively. “Why would one of their guard dogs die, let alone become a ghost?”

“Uh, because Axion put down all their dogs when they got a new security system?” Danny frowned, the corners of his mouth pulling down. “I dunno why Cujo became a ghost, specifically, but I know that that was a thing.” He didn’t explain how he knew.

Jack would’ve questioned him about it, but he got distracted by the proof that the ectoplasmic canine could be trained. “See, Mads,” he boomed, smiling widely, “Just like I said! It could make a fantastic ghost-hunting hound!”

“Or a pet,” Danny grumbled under his breath, cradling the ghost to his chest.

“Nonsense.” Jack scooped the dog from Danny’s arms, holding out towards Maddie. “Besides, you’ve already seen its potential. I can’t wait to see Phantom’s expression when this ghost catches it!”

“Actually,” Danny interrupted, stepped closer as if thinking about grabbing the dog back. “I don’t think that that will be happening. He likes Phantom.”

Maddie’s eyes snapped from the ghostly canine in front of her to Danny. The boy in question flinched back a step. “How would you know that?”

“Cujo keeps following me, and Phantom hunts down every ghost in the city.” Danny thew up his hands in exasperation. “Of course I’ve run into him!”

She eyed him for a moment longer. Jack slowly put down the dog, careful not to draw her attention – or her ire. “Fine. But you’re wearing a Specter Deflector to make sure Phantom stays away from you.”

“What?” Danny’s eyed widened, and he took another step back. “No! Phantom is harmless, and he never tried anything to hurt me or Cujo! Quite the opposite – he’s the reason why Cujo wasn’t constantly following me around!”

“But you should know better than to associate with ghosts,” Maddie insisted, crossing her arms. “And they’re clearly influencing you already – you of all people should know that Phantom isn’t a he but an it.”

Danny scoffed, rolling his eyes. He didn’t answer.

After that, the silence turned awkward. It lingered for what felt like an eternity.

And then the door opened again.

The ghost dog shot off of the floor again, launching itself at whoever was in the door opening. Jazz, probably, since no one but their family walked straight in. Well, Sam and Tucker did sometimes, but usually they were with Danny when they did that.

Jazz screeched, but managed to catch the dog in her arms before she went down. Jack involuntarily let out an impressed whistle.

“Good catch,” Danny complimented, blinking away his surprise. His sister just grumbled out an incomprehensible answer as her face was slathered in ectoplasmic drool.

“No worries, Jazzy-pants,” Jack comforted as he moved to pick the dog out of her arms. “It’s not dangerous.”

Jazz shot Danny a glare, then turned to her dad. “The dog or the drool?”

“Both,” Danny said, as Maddie simultaneously answered, “Neither.” They shot each other a glance again, Danny’s expression sheepish while Maddie looked tired. Or angry. Maybe both.

“The drool,” Jack affirmed, taking the ghost into his own arms. “And arguably the dog, too. We were still talking about getting it trained to hunt ghosts.”

“Really?” Jazz quirked an eyebrow, unsure. “You want to train a ghost to hunt other ghosts? But when Phantom does it, it’s a sign of dishonesty and evil plans?”

“Well, yeah.” He raised the dog up, as if he was showing it off. “Because this is gonna be a ghost that is following the instructions of its human masters. Phantom is a rogue spirit.”

“What if he wasn’t?” Danny licked his lips, nervous as the other three turned their attention to him. “What if… What if a human was instructing Phantom to protect Amity from other ghosts?”

Maddie snorted. “Then they would be borrowing trouble. Sooner or later, Phantom will turn on them – and the town. You can’t control a ghost.”

Aggravated, Danny waved a hand at Jack and the ghostly canine in his arms. Maddie rolled her eyes. “Yes, even that one. As I’ve been saying, Jack, we can’t keep it.”

“Aww.” He lowered the ghost again, holding it at chest level. “But imagine how much it could help with ghost hunting!”

“No,” Maddie repeated, firmly. Her eyes were steely, sharp and cutting. “Either it goes into the Ghost Zone, or I’m taking it down to the lab for examination.”

Danny gasped, and Jazz winced. “Fine,” Jack sighed, cradling it closer to his chest.

Maddie’s eyes lingered on the spectral canine, committing it to memory. There was no doubt in Jack’s mind that she would recognize it, if it ever returned. And, if Danny had been telling the truth, it likely would.

He walked back into the lab, his footsteps echoing in the silent room. More footsteps, quieter, followed him. He turned, expecting to see Maddie. Instead he saw his son, who shrugged under his father’s watchful eye.

“Just wanted to make sure you actually let him go,” the boy confessed. Then, after a moment, “And to make sure he doesn’t immediately come back. I think he digs through the Portal doors, somehow.”

“Ah.” That explained it. Danny was worried about the canine. He was always a bit of a hero. Protector of those who couldn’t do it themselves. It made sense that he stood up for the ghost.

It made sense that he defended Phantom. He saw himself in the spirit.

And maybe… Maybe his son had a point.

Jack looked at the small ghost in his hand. It panted at him, wagging its flame-like tail. If this animalistic ghost defied its nature, why couldn’t a more humanoid one?

Danny opened the Portal as Jack stood in front of it. Once the doors were fully opened, Jack carefully took the dog towards the swirling green mass.

“Goodbye Cujo,” he said, as the ghost was drawn back into its home dimension.

He had a lot to think about.

#phic phight #phic phight 19 #danny phantom #jack fenton #cujo #maddie fenton #danny fenton #jazz is too minor to bother tagging for i guess #this wasn't the prompt i was trying to write but the Cujo was too strong too ignore #writing Jack is always an Experience #his natural state is too hyped up and excited for me tbh #this fic is an exercise in 'how often can you pick a dog up and the put it down again'#dark writes

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